Marked for Itumeleng Mokoena
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
Pavel Golubkov 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 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Metallurg can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I watch every Metallurg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout3 May 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Yavorskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metallurg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alexandr Kobzev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Chernyakov 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
109% of the income goes out in wages at Metallurg
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Grigorjev signs something — a contract at Metallurg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Savva Potapov gets picked when it counts
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 Savva Potapov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metallurg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Dmitry Pakhomov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 126% of the Metallurg 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Metallurg is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Maxim Vedeneev is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Yegor Ananjev
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulla Mohamed trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Grigorjev signs something — a contract at Metallurg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexey Skvortsov and Metallurg agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Ilnur Badrtdinov 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
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Chernyakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Metallurg ran out of time with Spartak Tambov. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Abdulla Mohamed
“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.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I watch every Metallurg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad8 Mar 2027
No place for Pavel Golubkov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Metallurg are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market8 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 Vladislav Agalakov is on it.