Marked for Ivan Maslov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom15 May 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Kvant
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kvant is running low.
Market15 May 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 The request is on a desk at Kvant, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2028
Tempers go at Kvant
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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Portillo 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 May 2028
Maga 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 Maga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ivan Maslov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Kvant
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kvant is running low.
Market17 Apr 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 Kvant can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Kvant
Victor Portillo 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaliy Podshiblov 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Maxim Mitskevich 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ivan Maslov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Kvant
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kvant is running low.
Market20 Mar 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 Kvant can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Kvant
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaliy Podshiblov 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ivan Maslov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market20 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maxim Mitskevich’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the Kvant boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market21 Feb 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 Kvant can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kvant this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Portillo 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kvant, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ivan Maslov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 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 Kvant can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kvant this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maga 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Strogino left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Anatoly Semkin
“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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Kvant needed to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Kvant
15 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
“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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Daniil Bortsov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Kvant
Eldzhat Mamedov 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maga 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 terraces4 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Bortsov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Eldzhat Mamedov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Eldzhat Mamedov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kvant have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match2 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kvant told Anatoly Semkin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
A hiding for Kvant
Beaten 1‑4 by Ryazan, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kvant can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Maxim Timchenko again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Vologda. Kvant are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 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 Kvant this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gordey Nefedov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Kvant dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market10 Aug 2026
He is 14, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market10 Aug 2026
He is 14, and nobody at Kvant signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.