Marked for Mateush Montevka
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Sep 2028
9 matches without a win for Neman
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Neman are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Sep 2028
Anton Suchkov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neman can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Neman may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Nikita Robak
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Robak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neman the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Neman
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleg Evdokimov, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Zhukovskiy commits to Neman for another 4 years.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Neman
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Kozlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 May 2028
Neman march on in the cup
Baranovichi are out and Neman go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
No sign of nerves from Mateush Montevka at 21 — 7.73
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateush Montevka did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market5 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neman they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Neman
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Jun 2028
Pavel Savitskiy scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Vitebsk, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces5 Jun 2028
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Marked 8.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 48. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Mateush Montevka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market10 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Matysyuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neman the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match8 Apr 2028
Whatever happens, Neman do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Neman
Sergey Pushnyakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Dayneko and Neman agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces10 Apr 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Devyaten and Neman agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Devyaten, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kirill Veidyger is on it.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleg Nikiforenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 Jan 2028
The clock does Yuriy Pantia’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Neman could ask drops and the wages Yuriy Pantia can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Neman
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Kozlov, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sergey Pushnyakov is on it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Ilya Kirko knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neman, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guljigit Borubaev signs something — a contract at Neman or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match29 Nov 2027
Continental football is in reach for Neman
44 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market29 Nov 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Danil Ananka leaves Neman the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market29 Nov 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Daniil Zhidkevich leaves Neman the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Yahor Kislyak damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market25 Oct 2027
Danil Ananka hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neman can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neman is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neman this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Neman
Sergey Pushnyakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Shérif Jimoh: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neman have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Neman
Sergey Pushnyakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anton Suchkov and Neman agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Neman
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Pantia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.