Marked for Bruno Duyah
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Nov 2030
Vasily Lunev 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Boardroom25 Nov 2030
Wages eat 159% of everything Uralets-TS earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
When it matters, Dawid Linca plays
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.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Market25 Nov 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valery Aslanov signs something — a contract at Uralets-TS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market25 Nov 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uralets-TS, another week without a signature from Maciej Glik.
Market25 Nov 2030
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Anton Arnold may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Nov 2030
Bruno Duyah 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Match18 Nov 2030
Uralets-TS are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 23 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Vasily Lunev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Yudin
“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.
Boardroom18 Nov 2030
The Uralets-TS debt reaches $6.0M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yakov Zarutskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Nov 2030
Uralets-TS have made Igor Gorbunov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market18 Nov 2030
The Dawid Linca story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dawid Linca signs something — a contract at Uralets-TS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Oct 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Oct 2030
Uralets-TS are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The terraces21 Oct 2030
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Oct 2030
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nils Roström’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Uralets-TS.
Looking ahead21 Oct 2030
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
The borrowing at Uralets-TS reaches $5.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kacper Błaszkiewicz will call it something else in private.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Nobody on the pitch touched Nils Roström
7.74, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Uralets-TS had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Sep 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Punegov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uralets-TS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Sep 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Match21 Sep 2030
Whatever happens, Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout23 Sep 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.
Match21 Sep 2030
Late, late show earns Uralets-TS a point
Minute 87, against Sibir, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
Uralets-TS are $5.7M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Nils Roström beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market23 Sep 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uralets-TS, another week without a signature from Giorgi Chanturia.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Aug 2030
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Bruno Duyah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market26 Aug 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.
Market26 Aug 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
Everything agreed with Spartak Kostroma, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
Dinamo Bryansk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dmitry Khokhlov has pre-agreed a move to Uralets-TS, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
The terraces26 Aug 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jørgen Skjølås has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
This is not rotation. Valeriy Hambardzumyan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.72 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market19 Aug 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market19 Aug 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 dugout19 Aug 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
The deal with Yenisey died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Vasily Lunev 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 targets19 Aug 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Jul 2030
Bruno Duyah 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
The deal with Rodina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad29 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
This is not rotation. Valeriy Hambardzumyan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Match27 Jul 2030
Three points for Uralets-TS, 2‑1 the final word against Sibir in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces29 Jul 2030
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
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.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
Uralets-TS are $5.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Jul 2030
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market22 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market22 Jul 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Danila Zolotorenko has just signed for Uralets-TS, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Uralets-TS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Everything agreed with Orenburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
Up they go: Uralets-TS promoted
Confirmed, mathematical, and a town awake all night. Whatever else the season contained, it finishes a division higher than it started.
Market1 Jul 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Everything agreed with Sokol, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad1 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
This is not rotation. Valeriy Hambardzumyan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets1 Jul 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.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
The borrowing at Uralets-TS reaches $5.4M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
Bruno Duyah 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Jun 2030
54 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market24 Jun 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Everything agreed with Spartak Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sokol have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jun 2030
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
A loan move for Andrey Kulagin is in the works
Uralets-TS have made the call to Dinamo Vladivostok. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 May 2030
First, on 54 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market27 May 2030
Bruno Duyah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout27 May 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 May 2030
Yakov Zarutskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 May 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
The dugout27 May 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Apr 2030
First, on 54 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market29 Apr 2030
Only the photograph left for Bruno Duyah
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Duyah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valeriy Hambardzumyan 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 Apr 2030
Jakub Kokosiński 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Apr 2030
First, on 54 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market1 Apr 2030
Bruno Duyah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market1 Apr 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Yakov Zarutskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jørgen Skjølås was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A season on the outside for Dawid Linca
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Uralets-TS has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jørgen Skjølås was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom25 Mar 2030
Wages swallow 149% of the Uralets-TS 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 dugout25 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomáš Vychodil, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jørgen Skjølås is on it.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Bruno Duyah 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.
Market25 Mar 2030
Dawid Linca linked with a move away
The name of Dawid Linca keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Uralets-TS say nothing, which says plenty.
Market25 Mar 2030
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Uralets-TS money.
Market25 Mar 2030
Uralets-TS have let the market know Vasily Magomedov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Uralets-TS and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Mar 2030
The view from the top for Uralets-TS
54 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market4 Mar 2030
Bruno Duyah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market4 Mar 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 dugout4 Mar 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Yakov Zarutskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The owner puts $113.4K into Uralets-TS
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.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout4 Mar 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vasily Kalinovsky and Uralets-TS agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kaluga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Feb 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Feb 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
The deal with Sokol is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
Uralets-TS asked and Fakel 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 dugout18 Feb 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.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“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.
Market18 Feb 2030
Gleb Geikin runs his contract down
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Uralets-TS money.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Jan 2030
First, on 50 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match5 Jan 2030
Uralets-TS make home a hard place to visit
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
Bruno Duyah, 21, steals the show — 7.82
Marked 7.82 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market7 Jan 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Dawid Linca is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Uralets-TS will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Match5 Jan 2030
Nobody wants to play Uralets-TS right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
$103.9K of the owner's money at Uralets-TS
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Dec 2029
Whatever happens, Uralets-TS do not lose
15 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.
Match22 Dec 2029
6‑0, and Dawid Linca took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Uralets-TS tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad24 Dec 2029
The match ball belongs to Dawid Linca, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Bruno Duyah, 21, steals the show — 8.18
Marked 8.18 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Igor Gorbunov, 35, rolls back the years — 8.47
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.47 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match22 Dec 2029
The run at home goes on for Uralets-TS
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match22 Dec 2029
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Uralets-TS and Rodina 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Yakov Zarutskiy 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Oct 2029
Jørgen Skjølås 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Tomáš Vychodil
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valeriy Hambardzumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jørgen Skjølås is on it.
Market22 Oct 2029
The name of Valery Aslanov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Uralets-TS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Uralets-TS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Jul 2029
Nobody wants to play Uralets-TS right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Yakov Zarutskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volna have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Jul 2029
Three points for Uralets-TS, 1‑0 the final word against KDV Tomsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Marked 7.91. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to Salyut: 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
Upbeat
Squad23 Jul 2029
42 days out for Ahmed Abubakarov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uralets-TS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Jul 2029
3‑0, and Rayat Sharafutdinov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Uralets-TS tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Market23 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
The step up is real for Bruno Duyah
At 21 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Uralets-TS asked and Chaika 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 terraces23 Jul 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kacper Błaszkiewicz has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Danil Kapustyanskiy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad23 Jul 2029
26 shut-outs in 96 appearances. A keeper’s career is counted in games where nothing happened, and none of it happened by accident.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Jul 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Wages swallow 136% of the Uralets-TS 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 dugout9 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jun 2029
94 days out for Ahmed Abubakarov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uralets-TS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Jørgen Skjølås is the young player of the season
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Market4 Jun 2029
The shirt still fits. Gleb Geikin is back at Uralets-TS, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market4 Jun 2029
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad4 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jun 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The formation has left Gleb Geikin behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Uralets-TS will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jørgen Skjølås is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 2029
A fracture rules Ahmed Abubakarov out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Uralets-TS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout28 May 2029
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 May 2029
Jørgen Skjølås and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 May 2029
Dawid Linca has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout28 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Sokolov, and the manager let it.
Market28 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valery Aslanov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2029
108 days out for Ahmed Abubakarov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uralets-TS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 May 2029
Danil Kapustyanskiy 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.
Boardroom21 May 2029
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 dugout21 May 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rayat Sharafutdinov is on it.
The dugout21 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noel Hermansson, and the manager let it.
Market21 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jørgen Skjølås’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bruno Duyah is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Jørgen Skjølås has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Maxim Sokolov
“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.
Market9 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danil Kapustyanskiy signs something — a contract at Uralets-TS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
The training reports on Vadim Guskov are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Mar 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Wages eat 134% of everything Uralets-TS earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Nikita Generalov 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Danil Kapustyanskiy is on it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
August Holm 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Mar 2029
The Dawid Linca talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uralets-TS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Mar 2029
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Uralets-TS could ask drops and the wages Danil Kapustyanskiy can ask rise.
Market19 Mar 2029
The shop window has Bruno Duyah in it
Uralets-TS have let the market know Bruno Duyah can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Questions about Jakub Kokosiński on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Mar 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dawid Linca commits to Uralets-TS for another 4 years.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Danil Kapustyanskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Jørgen Skjølås has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Jørgen Skjølås 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Jan 2029
7‑0, and Danil Kapustyanskiy took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Uralets-TS tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad29 Jan 2029
The match ball belongs to Danil Kapustyanskiy, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market29 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Jørgen Skjølås, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uralets-TS have done the hard part with Rodina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bruno Duyah is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match27 Jan 2029
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Uralets-TS and Rodina 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
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.