Marked for Kevin Dermit
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Aug 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Prokhor Struk
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Aug 2030
22 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Aug 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Torpedo-BelAZ waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market26 Aug 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Aug 2030
A falling-out at Minsk
Ji-hun Park and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market26 Aug 2030
The phone has started ringing about Stanislau Rios again, and this time the name on the line is Osipovichi. Minsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Aug 2030
29 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Aug 2030
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Prokhor Struk had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market19 Aug 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Words exchanged at Minsk
Andrey Makarenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Simeon Vasilev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
Minsk asked and Torpedo-BelAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
“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.
Match17 Aug 2030
A bad afternoon for Minsk against BATE
0‑1 to BATE, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Aug 2030
36 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Aug 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smorgon waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Aug 2030
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Minsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
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Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Smorgon; Minsk go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Daouda Natama is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.21 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad12 Aug 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emir Ernisov and Minsk agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Tempers go at Minsk
Ji-hun Park 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.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jul 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 Jul 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Minsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market29 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market29 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market29 Jul 2030
Slonim come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Minsk have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
$31.0K on the table at Vitebsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Simeon Vasilev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Minsk and Vitebsk have settled on $33.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market15 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
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Market15 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Pshennikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Minsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Tempers go at Minsk
Ji-hun Park 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.
Match13 Jul 2030
Whatever happens, Minsk do not lose
6 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.
Market15 Jul 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Minsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Minsk asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Jun 2030
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lokomotiv Gomel had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Jun 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Minsk can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jun 2030
Neman come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spartak Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vadzim Martynovich has agreed terms with Niva for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Ji-hun Park in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
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Market24 Jun 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Minsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Feb 2030
Smorgon come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
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Boardroom25 Feb 2030
Window shuts: 5 in, 4 out at Minsk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A falling-out at Minsk
Andrey Makarenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad25 Feb 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emir Ernisov commits to Minsk for another 3 years.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Yatskevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market25 Feb 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Minsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
A loan enquiry to Zenit: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jan 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Yegorov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Minsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Jan 2030
The medical room confirms 20 days on the sidelines for Ilya Aleksievich, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexandr Yegorov has agreed terms with Naftan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Tempers go at Minsk
Andrey Makarenko 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.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valeriy Potorocha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market7 Jan 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Minsk, another week without a signature from Ilya Dubinets.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
Kevin Dermit 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 Minsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Sep 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Minsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Sep 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Minsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Minsk
Ji-hun Park and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match15 Sep 2029
Dinamo Brest left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Raman Hleb to a room that had heard them before.
Market17 Sep 2029
He is 19, and nobody at Minsk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Vadim Kurlovich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.