Marked for Ivan Klimovich
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jul 2029
Maxim Mardas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Ivan Klimovich 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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A mark of 7.31, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Jul 2029
Yahor Rios hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market23 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Aleksey Zorin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksey Zorin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lokomotiv Gomel have done the hard part with Smorgon, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitebsk have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
178% of the income goes out in wages at Lokomotiv Gomel
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.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Ninety minutes of Nikolay Mirskiy at his very best
Marked 8.62. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Lokomotiv Gomel.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jul 2029
Beaten 0‑3 by Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
The deal with Dinamo Brest 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.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Jul 2029
Ivan Laptev 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 targets9 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Tarletskiy, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Klimovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotiv Gomel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Isloch, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.89 beside his name.
Squad2 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jun 2029
A 3‑1 win over Niva, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
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.
The terraces2 Jul 2029
At 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jun 2029
Beaten 0‑3 by Smorgon, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market18 Jun 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
No thanks: Prokhor Struk rejects the move
Lokomotiv Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match16 Jun 2029
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lokomotiv Gomel are no longer polite ones.
Match16 Jun 2029
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy 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.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Yahor Rios
“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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Ivan Klimovich 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
Crisis
The dugout11 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Jun 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy 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.
Match9 Jun 2029
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match9 Jun 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Ivan Klimovich 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
The borrowing at Lokomotiv Gomel reaches $5.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Ionut Ratiu
“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 ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Yahor Rios knocks on the manager's door
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Squad
Ivan Laptev suspended
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$49.1K from the owner keeps Lokomotiv Gomel afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Lokomotiv Gomel know it.
Match4 Jun 2029
Half the programme played, position 8, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yauhen Skavysh is on it.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
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.” Sergei Rios chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 May 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market28 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 May 2029
Yahor Rios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 May 2029
155% of the income goes out in wages at Lokomotiv Gomel
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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Klimovich 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 dugout28 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolai Sokolov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 May 2029
7.32, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Lokomotiv Gomel had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 May 2029
Half-satisfied: Sergei Rios on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 May 2029
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad21 May 2029
Ivan Laptev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces21 May 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikolay Mirskiy 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.
The dugout21 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Klimovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 May 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sergei Rios could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 May 2029
No end in sight to Lokomotiv Gomel's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokomotiv Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout14 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 May 2029
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom14 May 2029
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market14 May 2029
No place for Maxim Mardas in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maxim Mardas has his answer from Lokomotiv Gomel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Marked 7.82. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout14 May 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match5 May 2029
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Lokomotiv Gomel are no longer polite ones.
Match5 May 2029
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 May 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy 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 May 2029
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Klimovich 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 dugout7 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Ivan Klimovich
“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.
Squad7 May 2029
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 May 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Match30 Apr 2029
Every point is an argument now for Lokomotiv Gomel
Position 11 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match28 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Lokomotiv Gomel's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokomotiv Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match28 Apr 2029
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market30 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy 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.
Match28 Apr 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Klimovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Hleb Filipenko
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 106% of the Lokomotiv Gomel income
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Apr 2029
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lokomotiv Gomel are no longer polite ones.
Match21 Apr 2029
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Nikolay Mirskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“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 Apr 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Valery Gordeichuk is on it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sergei Rios after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match21 Apr 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Orsha came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout16 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Apr 2029
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match14 Apr 2029
Lida left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Yahor Rios
“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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Klimovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Apr 2029
0‑1 against Slavia Mozyr, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Yahor Rios 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 Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ivan Klimovich 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Half-satisfied: Sergei Rios on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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 dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Aleksey Zorin
“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.
Match7 Apr 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will be the happier side with the point.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Every debut is a small story about the future: Vadzim Balanovich, 21 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Hleb Filipenko 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 Lokomotiv Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.