Marked for Darwin Herrera
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Vladislav Drozd 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mustafo Abdumannopov 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 Feb 2027
Darwin Herrera wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Ostrovets now know that too.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Mustafo Abdumannopov 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darwin Herrera commits to Ostrovets for another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nikita Kukhtik was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ostrovets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Battal Al-Harthi 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
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ostrovets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 182% 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
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nikita Kukhtik 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Kukhtik, and the manager let it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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 Nikita Kukhtik.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ostrovets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mustafo Abdumannopov 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.