79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftyanik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Neftyanik, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Neftyanik asked and Neftekhimik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftyanik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 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.
The deal with Ufa 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.
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.
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luc Julien 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsAleksey Belikov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.87
BoardroomWages eat 112% of everything Neftyanik earn
Oleg Sokolov damages knee ligaments — 135 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 135 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Neftyanik did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
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.
Neftyanik have gone to Kosmos with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luc Julien was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valery Tolstoy 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 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.
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Neftyanik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Suvorov 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Neftyanik told Andrey Suvorov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Neftyanik would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.72, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Ruslan Fokin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.51. 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.
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.
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.
Sevastopol held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Neftyanik answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Andrey Suvorov 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Mar 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.” Arseniy Myasnikov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Something was said to Rostislav Myasnikov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Evgeny Magomedov provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chelyabinsk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Ushakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftyanik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Oleg Sokolov 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.
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.
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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Neftyanik has been clear about where Andrei Zhirkov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Neftyanik had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout25 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.” Arseniy Myasnikov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutLuc Julien is still being punished for one mistake
Player ratingsAn afternoon Luc Julien will want back
Player ratingsRuslan Fokin beats them one at a time
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.
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.
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.
Dinamo Stavropol next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Arseniy Myasnikov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ruslan Fokin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Neftyanik and Chaika M in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 2, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Marked 7.78 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
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.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Ushakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftyanik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He is 22 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.
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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Valery Tolstoy has come out of that comparison in the side, and Neftyanik have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Arseniy Myasnikov kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Neftyanik man
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Valery Tolstoy, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nazar Efimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftyanik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sibir keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evgeny Magomedov. 3‑1 against Rostov 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gavriil Lisitsin 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.
Andrei Zhirkov 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.
“I watch every Neftyanik game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zarya Lugansk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.