Marked for Jonas Lindstrom
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Mar 2029
Maxim Vertiev 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 targets12 Mar 2029
Znamya Truda asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom12 Mar 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.
Market12 Mar 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Znamya Truda, another week without a signature from Anatoly Anisimov.
The dugout12 Mar 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Soslan Dzarasov 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Artak Spertsyan 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.
Market12 Mar 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dmitry Goncharuk may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market12 Mar 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Krzysztof Szewczyk signs something — a contract at Znamya Truda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match20 Jan 2029
Znamya Truda throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Metallurg the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Znamya Truda will enjoy reviewing.
Market22 Jan 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 Znamya Truda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A brace, and Daniel Yegorov takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Yegorov provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Znamya Truda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Znamya Truda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Yegorov 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.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
179% of the income goes out in wages at Znamya Truda
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.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Eduard Antonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Znamya Truda is pretending otherwise.
Match20 Jan 2029
A 2‑2 draw with Metallurg leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Predrag Tadic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Znamya Truda is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Znamya Truda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Yegorov 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 dugout16 Oct 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Znamya Truda are still strangers to each other
7 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Jonas Lindstrom 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Denis Nikonorov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Znamya Truda 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Daniel Yegorov 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 Znamya Truda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Znamya Truda will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market16 Oct 2028
The Zeki Aliev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zeki Aliev signs something — a contract at Znamya Truda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Znamya Truda's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Znamya Truda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match23 Sep 2028
4 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Sep 2028
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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
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.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.