Marked for Sergey Lebedev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KDV Tomsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Daniil Bolshunov 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 Mar 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Daniil Kondrakov 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.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maxim Palienko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KDV Tomsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Yegor Skichko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Skichko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxim Palienko and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergey Lebedev 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikita Mikhaylov 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gennady Myasnikov 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Torrisi, and the manager let it.