Marked for Saba Kiteishvili
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Jun 2028
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.
Market26 Jun 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market26 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Santiago Maidana has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Samotoy 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know it.
Market26 Jun 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 May 2028
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.
Market1 May 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.
Market1 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
“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.
Match29 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 May 2028
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Squad1 May 2028
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know it.
Player ratings1 May 2028
5.32 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Feb 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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Denis Polyakov 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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
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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Samotoy 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
Market24 Jan 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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Nikolay Sotnikov 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 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jan 2028
Maxim Samotoy 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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is running low.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A move Richard Ebiwari would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Richard Ebiwari is living that version at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad3 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Vladislav Vasiljev 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Richard Ebiwari and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 3 years.