Marked for Mikalai Malevich
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
The knee: Mikita Hleb out for 81 days
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Mar 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Mar 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lokomotiv Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Mar 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Danil Maltsev and Lokomotiv Gomel agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Vitaliy Likhtin 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikalai Malevich
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match23 Aug 2027
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market23 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lokomotiv Gomel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match21 Aug 2027
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Lokomotiv Gomel are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The deal with Baranovichi 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 targets23 Aug 2027
Lokomotiv Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match21 Aug 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Lokomotiv Gomel and Ostrovets in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nikita Kukhtik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Smorgon, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market16 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Nikita Kukhtik 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and Smorgon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Maltsev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
A loan move for Mohamed Bamba is in the works
Lokomotiv Gomel have made the call to Torpedo-BelAZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.