Marked for Stepan Devyatkin
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Dec 2029
Chastening afternoon for Kosmos
A 0‑4 beating by Spartak Moscow 2 was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Kosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
Pressure builds in the Kosmos boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market3 Dec 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 Kosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
Stepan Devyatkin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Ilsur Valeev 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 Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
$29.1K from the owner keeps Kosmos 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.
The dugout3 Dec 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Oct 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 Kosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Kosmos
Ilsur Valeev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Oct 2029
Kosmos cannot find the net
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.
Match27 Oct 2029
0‑1 to Torpedo Vladimir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samir Masimov, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Oct 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Market29 Oct 2029
Nazar Mitin told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nazar Mitin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Kosmos.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Kosmos have to sell first
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Oct 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.
Squad15 Oct 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 Kosmos know it.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Kosmos
Ilsur Valeev 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Daniil Goncharov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Kosmos.
The dugout15 Oct 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Nikita Antipov 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2029
The Kosmos debt reaches $4.5M
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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Oct 2029
The half-term report on Kosmos
Position 7, 14 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Sep 2029
Nowhere to hide for Kosmos
0‑4 against Spartak Moscow 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A one-man rearguard from Gleb Gusev
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market3 Sep 2029
The Tyumen deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Daniil Goncharov reports back to Kosmos with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market3 Sep 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 Kosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Kosmos
Ilsur Valeev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
Gleb Gusev 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Kosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Antipov 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout3 Sep 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Aug 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A one-man rearguard from Gleb Gusev
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad13 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 Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Legion have kept their man, and Kosmos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match11 Aug 2029
A bad afternoon for Kosmos against Irkutsk
0‑2 to Irkutsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Kosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Antipov 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.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout13 Aug 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.
Market13 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Match4 Aug 2029
Chastening afternoon for Kosmos
A 0‑3 beating by Dinamo Vologda was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market6 Aug 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Kosmos
Daniil Goncharov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“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; Kosmos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Kosmos asked and KDV Tomsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stepan Devyatkin commits to Kosmos for another 3 years.
The dugout6 Aug 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.