Marked for Raphael Junuzovic
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Feb 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Feb 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pobeda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Feb 2031
“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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
No signings allowed at Pobeda
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
The Pobeda debt reaches $5.5M
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.
Market10 Feb 2031
He is 16, and nobody at Pobeda signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market10 Feb 2031
He is 17, and nobody at Pobeda signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market10 Feb 2031
He is 17, and nobody at Pobeda signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Dec 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Dec 2030
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Pobeda scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces23 Dec 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladimirs Bulvitis 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.
Match21 Dec 2030
Kuban Holding made Pobeda work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom23 Dec 2030
121% of the income goes out in wages at Pobeda
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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimirs Bulvitis 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.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
A mark of 7.65, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2030
9 matches without a win for Pobeda
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Pobeda are no longer polite ones.
Match23 Nov 2030
9 matches without a goal for Pobeda
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Match23 Nov 2030
Nart take the points off Pobeda
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom25 Nov 2030
119% of the income goes out in wages at Pobeda
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.
Squad25 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Oct 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Oct 2030
The wait goes on for Pobeda
4 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.
Match19 Oct 2030
The goals have deserted Pobeda
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pobeda can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimirs Bulvitis 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.
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
Pobeda are $5.2M 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Tempers go at Pobeda
Lev Kolesnikov 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.
Squad21 Oct 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.
Match19 Oct 2030
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Spartak Nalchik came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Jul 2030
Pobeda sink to position 11
22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
Pobeda are $4.8M 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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raphael Junuzovic, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces20 May 2030
Anger at Pobeda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom20 May 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Pobeda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pobeda is running low.
Market20 May 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Apr 2030
Every point is an argument now for Pobeda
Position 11 and 22 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.
Market8 Apr 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The owner puts $39.8K into Pobeda
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.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Pobeda are $4.7M 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Nobody at Pobeda 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 Dec 2029
The mood at Pobeda 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.
Match29 Dec 2029
18 unbeaten for Pobeda
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 18 matches without defeat is a foundation Pobeda did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Pobeda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market31 Dec 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.
Match29 Dec 2029
Nobody wins at Pobeda
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad31 Dec 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Squad31 Dec 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
The division's best last weekend was a Pobeda man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Amirkhan Temukov was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Dec 2029
25 matches without a win for Pobeda
The run now stands at 25, and the questions being asked around Pobeda are no longer polite ones.
Match15 Dec 2029
Pobeda cannot find the net
17 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.
Match15 Dec 2029
Whatever happens, Pobeda do not lose
16 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.
Squad17 Dec 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Dec 2029
Nobody wins at Pobeda
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islam Vagabov, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
One booking too many, and Temirkhan Bitarov sits out. Pobeda lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Dec 2029
Pobeda are in real trouble now
Position 11, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market10 Dec 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Pobeda 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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Pobeda are $4.1M 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphael Junuzovic 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
Crisis
Match24 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Pobeda's wait for a win
23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pobeda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Nov 2029
15 matches without a goal for Pobeda
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 15 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match24 Nov 2029
14 unbeaten for Pobeda
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Pobeda did not have in the autumn.
Market26 Nov 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pobeda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
Nobody wins at Pobeda
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
123% of the income goes out in wages at Pobeda
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“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; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
Daniil Borisov stands above it all
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Match
Point won or two lost for Pobeda?
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Pobeda
14 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.
Match22 Sep 2029
Pobeda cannot find the net
6 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Sep 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Squad24 Sep 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
Uneasy
Match1 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Pobeda's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pobeda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Sep 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match1 Sep 2029
4 matches without a goal for Pobeda
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
91% of the income goes out in wages at Pobeda
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.
Squad3 Sep 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Angusht will be the happier side with the point.
Market3 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Aug 2029
No end in sight to Pobeda's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pobeda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match4 Aug 2029
Pobeda cannot find the net
7 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.
Market6 Aug 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The Pobeda board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Labazan Labazanov has agreed terms with Astrakhan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphael Junuzovic 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
The terraces16 Jul 2029
The mood at Pobeda 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.
Market16 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The numbers do not look good at Pobeda
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Labazan Labazanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad16 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Pobeda
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad16 Jul 2029
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Market16 Jul 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Evgeny Goryachev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jul 2029
Pobeda are in real trouble now
Position 13, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
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 Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Samad Kurbanov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samad Kurbanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raphael Junuzovic is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimirs Bulvitis 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
Crisis
Squad2 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Jul 2029
Kosmos are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Pobeda will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Vladimirs Bulvitis 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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
90% of the income goes out in wages at Pobeda
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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Intake day at the Pobeda academy
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Islam Vagabov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pobeda 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Market25 Jun 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Pobeda will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Labazan Labazanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pobeda 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“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
Crisis
Market4 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Wages eat 93% of everything Pobeda 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Rashid Salimov 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 Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 May 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 May 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Squad28 May 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pobeda told Labazan Labazanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad28 May 2029
Islam Vagabov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pobeda 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.
Market28 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pobeda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 May 2029
Every point is an argument now for Pobeda
Position 13 and 21 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.
Market14 May 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 Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 May 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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.
Squad14 May 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.
Squad14 May 2029
“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
Crisis
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Anger at Pobeda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
Pressure builds in the Pobeda boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market23 Apr 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 Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
Pobeda counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pobeda now.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Saud Al-Ruwaili 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
Match16 Apr 2029
Every point is an argument now for Pobeda
Position 13 and 21 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Riku Umeda 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Raphael Junuzovic 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 Apr 2029
Rashid Salimov 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 Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Apr 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
Crisis
Market9 Apr 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Mar 2029
Anger at Pobeda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Pobeda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pobeda is running low.
Market26 Mar 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
Pobeda counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pobeda now.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Pobeda
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphael Junuzovic 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
Crisis
Match19 Mar 2029
Pobeda are in real trouble now
Position 13, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad19 Mar 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“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.