Marked for Aleksandr Gorbachev
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad18 Oct 2027
A one-man rearguard from Vlad Chkalov
There were 9 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match16 Oct 2027
Neftyanik cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market18 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftyanik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Fyodor Smirnov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Neftyanik.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlad Chkalov 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Sergey Krotov
“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
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.71, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yaroslav Mikhaylov did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match2 Oct 2027
Neftyanik cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aleksandr Gorbachev and Neftyanik agree another 3 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Nikita Khvat 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Timofey Nikiforov. 3‑1 against Spartak Nalchik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Boichenko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match2 Oct 2027
Neftyanik settle it inside twenty minutes
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Spartak Nalchik spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Vlad Chkalov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Sep 2027
Fyodor Smirnov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftyanik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Neftyanik now.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrey Abramov and Neftyanik agree another 4 years.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlad Chkalov 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.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Stepan Rodin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match25 Sep 2027
Three points for Neftyanik, 1‑0 the final word against Druzhba in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Marked 7.53 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Neftyanik had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2027
Avangard will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Neftyanik were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 7.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Nikita Khvat, 20, steals the show — 8.14
Marked 8.14 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Neftyanik is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The formation has left Sergey Krotov behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Neftyanik will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market13 Sep 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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Neftyanik until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stepan Rodin is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match11 Sep 2027
Astrakhan left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match11 Sep 2027
Andrey Abramov among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Andrey Abramov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Neftyanik and Astrakhan.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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 targets13 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mashuk have kept their man, and Neftyanik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Gorbachev, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Boardroom
119% of the income goes out in wages at Neftyanik
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The dugout
Ilya Abdulov faces the questions
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Squad
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Kostroma have kept their man, and Neftyanik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Yakovlev 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The name of Vitaliy Smolnikov has come up in conversations Neftyanik were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Vlad Dolgikh 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 targets6 Sep 2027
Mashuk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets6 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
5 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match28 Aug 2027
Chaika M will want this one forgotten quickly: 15‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Neftyanik were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftyanik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad30 Aug 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market30 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match28 Aug 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 15 goals between Neftyanik and Chaika M, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftyanik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Timur Yakovlev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neftyanik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market16 Aug 2027
Neftyanik say no — this time
The offer from Akron for Timofey Nikiforov 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
The run at home goes on for Neftyanik
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Kostroma have kept their man, and Neftyanik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Yakovlev 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The Yuri Anisimov conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Kosmos will make the call about Yuri Anisimov this week. Neftyanik have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftyanik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Neftyanik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Everything was agreed with Sibir and then the doctor spoke. Neftyanik have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at Neftyanik: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Sibir, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market2 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Fyodor Smirnov again, and this time the name on the line is Znamya Truda. Neftyanik are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Neftyanik know now that the thought has arrived.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Jul 2027
Shakhter Donetsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Neftyanik were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftyanik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad26 Jul 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match24 Jul 2027
Neftyanik make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Timur Yakovlev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Mikhaylov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftyanik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Neftyanik have done the hard part with Sibir, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Andrey Abramov scored one and made one — 7.63
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.63, and 2 involvements.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Chelyabinsk had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftyanik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Fyodor Smirnov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neftyanik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jul 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Timur Yakovlev reports back to Neftyanik with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match17 Jul 2027
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Neftyanik
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Timur Yakovlev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftyanik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fyodor Smirnov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftyanik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Yakovlev 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonid Shatov, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Amkar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Timur Yakovlev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neftyanik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cherepovets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Bogdan Belov out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftyanik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Timur Yakovlev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Ordabasy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Timofey Nikiforov. The answer from Neftyanik has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$16.0K on the table at Uralets-TS. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Neftyanik offered $51.0K; Shinnik 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Timur Yakovlev 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Vladivostok: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Bogdan Belov out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftyanik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Dmitri Shestakov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
48 days out for Bogdan Belov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftyanik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Neftyanik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Vadim Anisimov 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The numbers do not look good at Neftyanik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Timur Yakovlev 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
A season away well spent by Leonid Shatov
31 games, 3 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Neftyanik now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Maxim Boichenko
“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 dugout7 Jun 2027
Yuri Anisimov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yuri Anisimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Wages swallow 134% 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Timur Yakovlev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timur Yakovlev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch24 May 2027
24 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Timofey Nikiforov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftyanik say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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 dugout17 May 2027
Vlad Chkalov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vlad Chkalov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stepan Rodin, and the manager let it.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Vadim Anisimov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftyanik say nothing, which says plenty.
Market17 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Timur Yakovlev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market17 May 2027
The clock does Yegor Kostryukhin’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Neftyanik could ask drops and the wages Yegor Kostryukhin can ask rise.
Squad17 May 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Timur Yakovlev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timur Yakovlev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftyanik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
The numbers do not look good at Neftyanik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market10 May 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout10 May 2027
Vlad Chkalov asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The dugout10 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 May 2027
Neftyanik strike at the death to beat Nart
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Nart had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Neftyanik did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A brace, and Fyodor Smirnov takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fyodor Smirnov provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout3 May 2027
This is not rotation. Timur Yakovlev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise.
Match1 May 2027
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad3 May 2027
At 20, Vladislav Pospelov is already the best thing here
An average of 7.10 in a first team he is several years too young for. Neftyanik have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad3 May 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch3 May 2027
34 appearances away from home and 15 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Match1 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fyodor Smirnov. 3‑1 against Nart, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johandrys Herrera 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
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Neftyanik
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johandrys Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Yuri Anisimov’s exile
14 goals in 31 games at Kyzyltash — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Neftyanik updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Yegor Kostryukhin
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Yegor Kostryukhin.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Savely Gerasimov
5 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom12 Apr 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ilya Abdulov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dmitri Shestakov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johandrys Herrera 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
153% of the income goes out in wages at Neftyanik
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout29 Mar 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentin Shubin, and the manager let it.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
21 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Nikiforov signs something — a contract at Neftyanik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match29 Mar 2027
Continental football is in reach for Neftyanik
54 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Mar 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market22 Mar 2027
Fyodor Smirnov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftyanik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The step up is real for Kirill Kon'
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Sevastopol left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Mar 2027
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market1 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shakhter Donetsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad1 Mar 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match27 Feb 2027
Neftyanik cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 1 out at Neftyanik
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
149% of the income goes out in wages at Neftyanik
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 terraces1 Mar 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match27 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over Spartak Nalchik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
3‑0, and Timofey Nikiforov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Neftyanik tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market25 Jan 2027
Neftyanik say no — this time
The offer from Tammeka for Savely Gerasimov 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.
Market25 Jan 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Neftyanik make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Neftyanik have 4 straight wins of it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Neftyanik — 7.67
1 for Aleksandr Gorbachev, marked 7.67, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Neftyanik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johandrys Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jan 2027
Kyzyltash will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Neftyanik were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market18 Jan 2027
Neftyanik say no — this time
The offer from Považská Bystrica for Timofey Nikiforov 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Timur Yakovlev takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Timur Yakovlev provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match16 Jan 2027
Neftyanik make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Neftyanik have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johandrys Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Savely Gerasimov at his very best
Marked 8.41. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Neftyanik.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Irkutsk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Neftyanik and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 20 matches say the rest.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ilya Abdulov, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Jan 2027
5‑1, and Timofey Nikiforov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Neftyanik tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vladislav Pospelov did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market4 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Fyodor Smirnov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fyodor Smirnov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftyanik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dmitri Shestakov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match2 Jan 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Neftyanik and Dinamo Stavropol in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Neftyanik
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Neftyanik are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johandrys Herrera 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.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match28 Dec 2026
Neftyanik at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 11, 27 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.18, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ilya Abdulov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Neftyanik dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Vladislav Pospelov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Vlad Chkalov 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Andrey Abramov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.81
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 6.81, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Savely Gerasimov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Angusht leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Market21 Dec 2026
Experience through the door at Neftyanik
Evgeny Osipov arrives at 40 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
4 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nart left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Neftyanik, and 3 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Vadim Anisimov 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Gorbachev, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
15 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
8 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neftyanik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market7 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Neftyanik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Neftyanik now know that too.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Astrakhan left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Wages eat 160% of everything Neftyanik earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Neftyanik game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Irkutsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johandrys Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Aleksandr Gorbachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Sochi 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Timofey Nikiforov at his very best
Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Neftyanik.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ilya Abdulov on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Valentin Shubin
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrey Abramov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Johandrys Herrera 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Kosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Neftyanik and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Timur Yakovlev asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Timur Yakovlev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftyanik say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
12 appearances at Kyzyltash and the goals keep coming. Neftyanik are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
9 starts and a season average of 6.55. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Next up at home: Sochi 2, who go into it in position 14. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftyanik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Yury Kudrevaty 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Neftyanik bring in an old head
Johandrys Herrera is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yegor Kostryukhin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Nikiforov signs something — a contract at Neftyanik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Neftyanik
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Neftyanik are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Zenit Penza will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alexandr Dementjev has pre-agreed a move to Neftyanik, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 113% of everything Neftyanik earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timur Yakovlev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Vladlen Komarov gets it from the manager
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Danila Karimov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Anton Zhdanov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neftyanik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Timur Yakovlev 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rostov 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Vlad Dolgikh
“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 watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Kosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Neftyanik and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ilya Abdulov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Neftyanik are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftyanik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Vlad Chkalov
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Vadim Anisimov 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Neftyanik asked and Sibir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksandr Gorbachev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Neftyanik had the best player on the pitch.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Neftyanik bow out of the cup
Tyumen go through and Neftyanik go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Saturn had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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 targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin Yalta have kept their man, and Neftyanik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Neftyanik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timur Yakovlev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Neftyanik, 1‑0 the final word against Kuban Holding in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vlad Dolgikh, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.93 on the card, and the Neftyanik support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Aleksandr Gorbachev 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Gavriil Nazarov has come up in conversations Neftyanik were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Yakovlev 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Salyut: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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 dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ilya Abdulov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Neftyanik dressing room was either.