Marked for Bogdan Polunin
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Neftyanik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jul 2027
Neftyanik say no — this time
The offer from Irkutsk for Bogdan Polunin was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Yakov Gusyev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftyanik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Stavropol have kept their man, and Neftyanik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vasily Shevchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonid Belov. 2‑0 against Shakhter Donetsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Wages swallow 124% of the Neftyanik 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
10 combined actions and 7.33. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Market26 Jul 2027
Irtysh are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Neftyanik will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kvant waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jul 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Irkutsk moved on, Bogdan Polunin reports back to Neftyanik, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Yakov Gusyev 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 targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Khimik have kept their man, and Neftyanik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Stanislav Chesnokov 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Akim Zotkin gets it from the manager
“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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Artem Yermakov is in the works
Neftyanik have made the call to Dinamo Bryansk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vasily Shevchenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
A promise honoured at Neftyanik
Something was said to Zakhar Erofeev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rodion Lunev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market28 Jun 2027
Neftyanik say no — this time
The offer from Irkutsk for Bogdan Polunin was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market28 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Neftyanik have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Yakov Gusyev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftyanik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Neftyanik offered $36.0K; Dinamo St Petersburg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Vasily Shevchenko 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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Rodion Glebov
“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
Steady
Market21 Jun 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 targets21 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Akhmat Grozny keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$36.0K on the table at Dinamo St Petersburg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Vasily Shevchenko 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Bogdan Polunin again, and this time the name on the line is Irkutsk. Neftyanik are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 129% of the Neftyanik 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Ferraro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Innokentiy Filatov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.