Marked for Ivan Bykau
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Nov 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Kirill Kirilenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Khvostovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Kirill Zabelin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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 dugout10 Nov 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Khvostovich 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Andrey Potapenko 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Ivan Bykau, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
The manager makes an example of Hleb Nekhaichik
“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.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
Artem Varganov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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.
Match28 Oct 2030
Position 5, 45 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.
Market28 Oct 2030
The name of Kirill Zabelin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Dnepr Mogilev say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Fedor Yurkevich is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Sep 2030
Kirill Kirilenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Sep 2030
54 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Dibusz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Artem Varganov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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.
Match30 Sep 2030
Dnepr Mogilev have something to play for
Position 5 on 45 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.
Market30 Sep 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dnepr Mogilev know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Yegor Nikolaev 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 Yegor Nikolaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Vadim Afanasjev is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Boardroom30 Sep 2030
41 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.