Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Nikiforov. 3‑1 against Chelyabinsk 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oleg Trofimov 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ivan Sutugin 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Ruslan Bragin could afford to be generous.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Khimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Khimik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khimik can pretend not to have heard.
Kirill Myrzakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ivan Sutugin 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Khimik, another week without a signature from Kirill Myrzakov.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Daniil Knyazev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Akron 2 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Khimik can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Veber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ruslan Bragin after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Veber trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Vyacheslav Zinkov is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Khimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Dmitry Veber 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Khimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ivan Sutugin 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ivan Sutugin is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KDV Tomsk have kept their man, and Khimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Chelyabinsk 2? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Supporters turn on the $160.0K sale of Ilja Gruznov
He is going to Chernomorets, the club has $160.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Kirill Gordeev 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.
Chernomorets pay $160.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cherepovets have kept their man, and Khimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ivan Sutugin 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Khimik will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Khimik, another week without a signature from Tomas Weiss.