Marked for Albert Vanyan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Sergey Sary is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Barovskiy 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrey Terekhov
“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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Yevstratov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dawid Polkowski signs something — a contract at Rodina M or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 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 Rodina M can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Dawid Polkowski 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Gorbachev 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Rodina M who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Makarov
“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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina M know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market8 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dawid Polkowski may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
22 starts and a season average of 6.68. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Timur Sharapov at 20 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timur Sharapov did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Baltika keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Rodina M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolay Barovskiy, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Gorbachev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Albert Vanyan and Rodina M agree another 3 years.
Match6 Feb 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Salyut leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Artem Kriulskiy
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Artem Kriulskiy has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rodina M have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
Rodina M take on the side everybody is chasing
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Squad
A Rodina M teenager takes the young player award
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 dugout25 Jan 2027
This is not rotation. Alexandr Andreev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina M is pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Ivan Makarov: 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rodina M can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad25 Jan 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 Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Gorbachev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Dec 2026
Mishal Saad 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Albert Vanyan is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mishal Saad
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.28 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rodina M had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Artem Zorin: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A Rodina M teenager takes the young player award
Artem Kriulskiy is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Spartak Tambov will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
49 days out for Dawid Polkowski after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rodina M will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Timur Sharapov 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Artem Zorin: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dawid Polkowski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Rodina M will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Arsenal Tula 2 came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Albert Vanyan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rodina M
Alexandr Yevstratov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Sep 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market21 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Rodina M signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Artem Kriulskiy asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Rodina M would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Rodina M have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.