Marked for Dragos Puscas
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A season's verdict on Egor Skavysh: the best of his age
Ostrovets have a 19-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
Squad26 Nov 2029
At 19, Egor Skavysh is already the best thing here
An average of 7.47 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ostrovets have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad26 Nov 2029
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ostrovets had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Nov 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 Nov 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Dragos Puscas 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.
Market12 Nov 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Angel Grudev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ostrovets.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Uladzimir Yablonski and Ostrovets agree another 3 years.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ihar Skavysh, and the manager let it.
Market12 Nov 2029
The clock does Makar Litskevich’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ostrovets could ask drops and the wages Makar Litskevich can ask rise.
Market12 Nov 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.
Match12 Nov 2029
Ostrovets in the hunt for Europe
Position 4, 41 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Nov 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Ángel Martínez and Ostrovets agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The owner puts $163.9K into Ostrovets
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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
Ostrovets are $6.8M in the red
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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Dragos Puscas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market5 Nov 2029
Nikos Semos is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ostrovets has been clear about where Nikos Semos stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market5 Nov 2029
Still no offer on the table, and Miguel Ángel Martínez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Ostrovets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gleb Krivtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Dragos Puscas 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
Nikos Semos 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.
Market22 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ostrovets, another week without a signature from Angel Grudev.
Market22 Oct 2029
The name of Rodion Medvedev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ostrovets say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 Oct 2029
The clock does Nikos Semos’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ostrovets could ask drops and the wages Nikos Semos can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Ilja Romaschuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Angel Grudev, and the manager let it.
Market15 Oct 2029
“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.
Market15 Oct 2029
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ostrovets money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Oct 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Oct 2029
At 19, Egor Skavysh is already the best thing here
An average of 7.47 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ostrovets have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Oct 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Egor Skavysh 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.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
No signings allowed at Ostrovets
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 dugout1 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dragos Puscas, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ostrovets would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
Egor Skavysh 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 Egor Skavysh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Sep 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Ostrovets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gleb Krivtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Dragos Puscas 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 dugout24 Sep 2029
“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.
Market24 Sep 2029
The name of Rodion Medvedev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ostrovets say nothing, which says plenty.
Market24 Sep 2029
Still no signature from Nikos Semos
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ostrovets could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Sep 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets17 Sep 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Dragos Puscas 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.
Match17 Sep 2029
Ostrovets have something to play for
Position 4 on 41 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market17 Sep 2029
The clock does Makar Litskevich’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ostrovets could ask drops and the wages Makar Litskevich can ask rise.
Market17 Sep 2029
Ostrovets opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Rodion Medvedev stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Yauhen Noyok has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ostrovets will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Sep 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
He is 19, he is averaging 7.47, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market3 Sep 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Raman Nekhaichik had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The owner puts $166.7K into Ostrovets
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 targets3 Sep 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Ostrovets cannot sign anybody
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Egor Skavysh is the month’s best young player
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Ostrovets will try not to make too much of it.
Squad3 Sep 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 Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
No sign of nerves from Egor Skavysh at 19 — 8.18
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Egor Skavysh did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market27 Aug 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Up for the corner, and Gleb Krivtsov delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gleb Krivtsov scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Everything agreed with Dinamo Minsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Ostrovets 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.
Match25 Aug 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Egor Skavysh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ostrovets.
Squad27 Aug 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 Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Aug 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
No sign of nerves from Egor Skavysh at 19 — 7.81
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Egor Skavysh did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad20 Aug 2029
32 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orsha have kept their man, and Ostrovets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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 terraces20 Aug 2029
At 17 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.
Match18 Aug 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Egor Skavysh. 1‑0 against Lokomotiv Gomel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets13 Aug 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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gomel have kept their man, and Ostrovets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Egor Skavysh 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
0‑2 to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
The game went through Roman Seredyuk — 6.94
Marked 6.94 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“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.
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
Wages eat 124% of everything Ostrovets 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The paperwork begins on Ihar Rios
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ostrovets have done the hard part with Minsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets30 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A last season at home is what Dragos Puscas is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Dragos Puscas 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.
Market30 Jul 2029
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ostrovets could get for him.
Match30 Jul 2029
Ostrovets in the hunt for Europe
Position 5, 32 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market30 Jul 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ostrovets, another week without a signature from Dmitry Kudryk.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jul 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market23 Jul 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Egor Skavysh, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad23 Jul 2029
60 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Belshina is saying, and nobody at Ostrovets is enjoying the guessing.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match21 Jul 2029
1‑3 to Smorgon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Ostrovets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Minsk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Isloch have kept their man, and Ostrovets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“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 ratings16 Jul 2029
Ninety minutes of Kirill Goncharik at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ostrovets.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Dragos Puscas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Artem Sivakov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jun 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Jun 2029
5‑1, and Kirill Goncharik took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ostrovets tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
A brace, and Kirill Goncharik takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kirill Goncharik provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market25 Jun 2029
The bid was some way short and Ostrovets did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Minsk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match23 Jun 2029
Kirill Goncharik among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Kirill Goncharik on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ostrovets and Lida.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A season average of 7.33 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2029
22 days out for Makar Litskevich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad11 Jun 2029
He is 19, he is averaging 7.35, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match9 Jun 2029
The wait goes on for Ostrovets
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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
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.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Ninety minutes of Kirill Goncharik at his very best
Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ostrovets.
Match9 Jun 2029
Ostrovets rescue it on 90 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Volna Pinsk had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ostrovets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match2 Jun 2029
4 matches without a win for Ostrovets
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maxim Samartsev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$140.3K from the owner keeps Ostrovets 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.
Match2 Jun 2029
Baranovichi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Akhvanderov, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Rodion Medvedev
9 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A month that belonged to Egor Skavysh
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Ostrovets who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 2029
36 days out for Makar Litskevich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match26 May 2029
A 2-goal lead gone for Ostrovets
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Orsha kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ostrovets will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings28 May 2029
A brace, and Egor Skavysh takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Egor Skavysh provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Ostrovets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gleb Krivtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 May 2029
Dragos Puscas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 May 2029
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
64 days out for Makar Litskevich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Dragos Puscas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“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.
Market30 Apr 2029
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ostrovets could get for him.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Yauhen Noyok 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 Ostrovets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Apr 2029
71 days out for Makar Litskevich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Apr 2029
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Rodion Medvedev will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Ostrovets escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Match23 Apr 2029
16 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
The borrowing at Ostrovets reaches $6.3M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $6.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Rodion Medvedev
8 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Dragos Puscas 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.
Match21 Apr 2029
It needed Rodion Medvedev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Smorgon, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Ostrovets 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
Upbeat
Squad16 Apr 2029
78 days out for Makar Litskevich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad16 Apr 2029
He is 18, he is averaging 7.14, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match14 Apr 2029
It finished 3‑1, and it was Egor Skavysh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ostrovets.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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 terraces16 Apr 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
No signings allowed at Ostrovets
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.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Dragos Puscas 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
Upbeat
Squad9 Apr 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Apr 2029
Vitebsk ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market9 Apr 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Ostrovets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gleb Krivtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces9 Apr 2029
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.
Match7 Apr 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Egor Skavysh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ostrovets.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ostrovets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
99 days out for Makar Litskevich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ostrovets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Artem Sivakov confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match24 Mar 2029
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ostrovets and Lida in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match24 Mar 2029
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Ostrovets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gleb Krivtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Rodion Medvedev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
Ostrovets are $6.1M in the red
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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Roman Seredyuk 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
Upbeat
Squad12 Mar 2029
A fracture rules Makar Litskevich out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
A brace, and Rodion Medvedev takes the afternoon — 9.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rodion Medvedev provided it, and the 9.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ostrovets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Egor Skavysh, 18, steals the show — 9.12
Marked 9.12 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match10 Mar 2029
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ostrovets and Volna Pinsk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match10 Mar 2029
Three points for Ostrovets, 4‑2 the final word against Volna Pinsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
Ostrovets still without a manager
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The terraces12 Mar 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodion Medvedev 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 8.17 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
The deal with Molodechno died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Ostrovets 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.
Transfer targets26 Feb 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Ostrovets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gleb Krivtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Dragos Puscas 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valery Ihnatovich is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Feb 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anton Sivakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Feb 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ihar Skavysh has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market26 Feb 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vitaliy Shikavka is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Feb 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The deal with Molodechno 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.
Transfer targets19 Feb 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Dragos Puscas 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Ostrovets cannot sign anybody
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.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
A loan move for Dmitry Ivanov is in the works
Ostrovets have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market19 Feb 2029
Ostrovets have let the market know Denis Miskevich can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodion Medvedev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
Daniil Bortsov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ostrovets will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Feb 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.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ostrovets have done the hard part with Lida, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Ostrovets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Brest, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets12 Feb 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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 Feb 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 Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“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.
Market12 Feb 2029
A stepping stone, not a home, for Angel Grudev
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Ostrovets were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market12 Feb 2029
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Feb 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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Feb 2029
Ostrovets say no — this time
The offer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk for Alexey Semenov 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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Everything agreed with Dinamo Brest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market5 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ostrovets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The owner puts $120.3K into Ostrovets
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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roman Seredyuk commits to Ostrovets for another 4 years.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Ostrovets 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.
Squad5 Feb 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 Ostrovets know it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Dragos Puscas wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Ostrovets know now that the thought has arrived.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ostrovets, another week without a signature from Dragos Puscas.
The dugout15 Jan 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A season on the outside for Yauhen Noyok
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ostrovets has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Jan 2029
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ostrovets could get for him.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Yauhen Noyok 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 Ostrovets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Ostrovets and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Jan 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
Kirill Korzun has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ostrovets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$120.5K of the owner's money at Ostrovets
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Dragos Puscas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market8 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ostrovets, another week without a signature from Makar Litskevich.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The clock does Alexey Semenov’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ostrovets could ask drops and the wages Alexey Semenov can ask rise.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ostrovets would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad8 Jan 2029
The training reports on Yan Skavysh are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Dragos Puscas 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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
Ostrovets are $5.8M in the red
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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ostrovets could get for him.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Dragos Puscas is 36, with 3 appearances behind him, and Ostrovets will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Dragos Puscas 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
Rodion Medvedev 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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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 Daniil Bortsov is on it.
Market25 Dec 2028
The name of Rodion Medvedev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ostrovets say nothing, which says plenty.
Match25 Dec 2028
Continental football is in reach for Ostrovets
41 points from position 4. 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
Upbeat
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“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 dugout18 Dec 2028
Egor Skavysh 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 Ostrovets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Dec 2028
Kirill Korzun has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ostrovets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Maxim Samartsev 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
“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.
Market11 Dec 2028
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Kirill Goncharik 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
No place for Dragos Puscas in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ostrovets are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Dec 2028
Ostrovets bring in an old head
Dragos Puscas is 36 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ostrovets would admit. It shows on Saturdays.