Marked for Aliaksandr Yablonski
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jul 2028
12 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.
Match24 Jul 2028
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match22 Jul 2028
1‑4 to Dnepr Mogilev, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad24 Jul 2028
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.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Jul 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Baranovichi
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Timur Pukhov 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 Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Jul 2028
The Timur Pukhov conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Slutsk will make the call about Timur Pukhov this week. Baranovichi have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Egor Lapun 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
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match11 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑5 by Dinamo Brest, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Baranovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Baranovichi's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baranovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Timur Pukhov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aliaksandr Yablonski and Baranovichi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Egor Lapun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Karpenya, and the manager let it.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Valeriy Potorocha gets picked when it counts
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The dugout
Timur Pukhov asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Nov 2027
“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 Baranovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Timur Pukhov 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 Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Timofey Tkachev 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baranovichi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market8 Nov 2027
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Baranovichi could get for him.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Semen Penchuk gets picked when it counts
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 Semen Penchuk is on it.
Market8 Nov 2027
The name of Aldiiar Ältaev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Baranovichi say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Baranovichi would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Shapko
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Baranovichi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Ryabykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Vitebsk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Timur Pukhov 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 Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Ryabykh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead19 Jul 2027
Everything rides on Slutsk
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Baranovichi know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Jul 2027
Timur Pukhov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Baranovichi
Position 13 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match3 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Baranovichi's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baranovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Timur Pukhov 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Baranovichi have gone to Vitebsk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Match3 Jul 2027
0‑1 to Slavia Mozyr, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aliaksandr Yablonski 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Shevchenko, and the manager let it.