Marked for Savely Protasov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Dec 2027
17 days out for Savely Protasov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rotor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
7.85, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor
Yegor Pogostnov 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yaroslav Mikhailov. 2‑1 against Chelyabinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
Rotor supporters have found a favourite in Luca Maiorano
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Luca Maiorano 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.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Simonyan, and the manager let it.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Nicolás Montiel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Dec 2027
Nobody wins at Rotor
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad13 Dec 2027
24 days out for Savely Protasov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rotor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Rotor
Yaroslav Mikhailov 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Simonyan 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 terraces13 Dec 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match11 Dec 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match11 Dec 2027
Three points for Rotor, 1‑0 the final word against Yenisey in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Dec 2027
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nicolás Montiel stands above it all
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Reda Boultam
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rotor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.06 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 unbeaten for Rotor
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Rotor did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Sep 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Yenisey made Rotor work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Rodionov commits to Rotor for another 4 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Vitaliy Lapin joins the Rotor first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vitaliy Lapin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vadim Zheleznov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roman Lysenko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Savely Protasov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Pokidyshev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left Reda Boultam behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Rotor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.