Marked for Vasil Stoychev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nosta can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Nosta
Ondřej Sprinz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Nosta are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout23 Oct 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Ilja Popov 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 Nosta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nosta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Market23 Oct 2028
Nosta have made Stepan Markaryan available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Looking ahead23 Oct 2028
An away day at Volna next for Nosta
They sit in position 2 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Oct 2028
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market2 Oct 2028
Ilja Popov 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 Nosta can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.08, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The terraces2 Oct 2028
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
Match30 Sep 2028
5 matches without a win for Nosta
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Nosta are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A goal and an assist for Oliver Andersen — 7.33
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.33 beside his name.
Match30 Sep 2028
Nosta come up short against Khimik
Khimik left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match30 Sep 2028
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Nosta and Khimik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Nosta
Ondřej Sprinz 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
The owner puts $186.4K into Nosta
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Boardroom
Wages eat 274% of everything Nosta earn
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The dugout
No hiding place for Arseny Chulkov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The paperwork begins on Yegor Sedov
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nosta have done the hard part with Murom, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Nosta
Stanislav Irshev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Arseny Vainer 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages swallow 178% of the Nosta 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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Xəyal Bədirov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nosta is pretending otherwise.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikolay Tyulenev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stanislav Irshev signs something — a contract at Nosta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Jul 2028
Arseny Vainer 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 Nosta can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Avangard, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Nikolay Tyulenev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nosta is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stanislav Irshev commits to Nosta for another 3 years.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Nosta
Stanislav Irshev 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The owner puts $137.1K into Nosta
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Ondřej Sprinz 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Nosta sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Nosta
Position 13 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market22 May 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 Nosta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 May 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Popov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nosta is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Nosta
Nikita Gloidman 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.
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Nosta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseny Vainer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Nosta cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout22 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nosta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Dmitryuk signs something — a contract at Nosta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market22 May 2028
Nosta have let the market know Aiden Hatwell can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.