Marked for Nikos Giannikos
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom15 May 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Druzhba
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Druzhba is running low.
The dugout15 May 2028
This is not rotation. Al-Zahri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Druzhba is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 May 2028
Tamerlan Khachirov 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Al-Zahri 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 229% of the Druzhba income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Market15 May 2028
The name of Sergey Oliynyk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Druzhba say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout15 May 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout15 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yegor Neustroev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 May 2028
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Druzhba money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Druzhba
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
The mood at Druzhba has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market21 Feb 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Druzhba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Feb 2028
The wait goes on for Druzhba
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Al-Zahri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Druzhba is pretending otherwise.
Match19 Feb 2028
The goals have deserted Druzhba
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Druzhba can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tamerlan Khachirov 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.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Druzhba asked and Volga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Al-Zahri 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Druzhba can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Druzhba close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market1 Mar 2027
Renat Tlyashok has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Druzhba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Mar 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 Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Druzhba asked and Ufa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The window shuts on the Shamil Isaev deal
Druzhba ran out of time with Ufa. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Eddi Tsanava gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Anatoly Demidov 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.