Marked for Usman Abiodun
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Rodina M's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina M has to find a result from somewhere.
Market30 Nov 2026
Usman Abiodun 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 Rodina M can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Luke Daley 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Rodina M cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Pedro Miguéis 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
89% of the income goes out in wages at Rodina M
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Bykov, and the manager let it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Spartak Tambov came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Rodina M
8 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Rodina M, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mark Vysochenko: 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.” Rodina M have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Luke Daley 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 Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alexandr Goryachkin 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Ilja Popov
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Nov 2026
7 matches without a win for Rodina M
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Rodina M are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ilja Popov runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Pedro Miguéis 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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alexandr Andreev is the weekend's best young player
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Nov 2026
“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.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Rodina M
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Rodina M are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Berat Eskin 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 Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Miguéis 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
17 new faces, and Rodina M are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market9 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Luke Daley 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rodina M are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Pedro Miguéis 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
Crisis
Market12 Oct 2026
Usman Abiodun 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 Rodina M can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Rodina M — 7.15
1 for Maxim Belkovskiy, marked 7.15, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luke Daley 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 Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rodina M are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alexandr Goryachkin 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.