Marked for Davis Bulvitis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Dinamo Kirov
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market21 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Evgeny Pesikov 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 Feb 2028
Words at Dinamo Kirov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Malykh 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 Feb 2028
113% of the income goes out in wages at Dinamo Kirov
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.
Market21 Feb 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Dinamo Kirov will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match7 Feb 2028
22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces7 Feb 2028
Anger at Dinamo Kirov 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Kirov can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Evgeny Pesikov 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Dinamo Kirov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Malykh 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.
Loan watch7 Feb 2028
“I watch every Dinamo Kirov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashuk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market7 Feb 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market7 Feb 2028
Salyut are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Dinamo Kirov will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Aug 2027
Skonto up to position 1
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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 Skonto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Benjamín Rivera has agreed terms with Ventspils for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Benjamín Rivera 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 Aug 2027
Krišs Kārkliņš 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.