Marked for Boris Shevtsov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Anger at Alania spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Alania
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alania is running low.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tyumen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alania is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Alania, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Spartak Nalchik; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market21 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Sarmat Ogoev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sarmat Ogoev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alania the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arsen Revazov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
Alania counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Alania now.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Alania
Makhach Abdulkhamidov 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.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 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.
Market10 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alania is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Alania
Makhach Abdulkhamidov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I did not go to Strogino to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alania and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.
Market10 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anzor Amiraliev signs something — a contract at Alania or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout10 May 2027
Arsen Kanteev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alania, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 May 2027
The shop window has Murat Yshyk in it
Alania have let the market know Murat Yshyk can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad10 May 2027
Questions about Anzor Amiraliev on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The dugout10 May 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Artem Zakirov has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 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 Alania, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alania is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Alania
Alan Bagaev 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Alania training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Batraz Gurtsiev 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Alania game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market12 Apr 2027
The name of Anzor Amiraliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alania say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nerves in the Alania squad
Soslan Kachmazov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Market12 Apr 2027
Alania have made Murat Yshyk available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Georgy Karkuzaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 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 Alania, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Mar 2027
Arsen Revazov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alania they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Alania training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Batraz Gurtsiev 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.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every Alania game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Alania
Timur Nikolov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market15 Mar 2027
The name of Anzor Amiraliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alania say nothing, which says plenty.
Market15 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Murat Yshyk may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad15 Mar 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 Alania would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Artur Byazrov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alania, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
Sarmat Ogoev 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 Alania can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alania is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Alania
Alan Bagaev 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Alania game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Alania training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Foma Spiridonov 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 Feb 2027
David Tepsikoev 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Anzor Amiraliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alania say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Alania says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Maxim Mamonov
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Alania has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
Timur Chetoev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alania they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Batraz Gurtsiev 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alania this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“I watch every Alania game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Anzor Amiraliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alania say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Spartak Gogniev 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Alania have made Artem Zakirov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
17 starts and a season average of 6.57. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Soslan Kachmazov
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alania lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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 Alania, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Dec 2026
Timur Chetoev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alania they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Alania
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Batraz Gurtsiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I watch every Alania game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Alania
Maxim Mamonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Tepsikoev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 Dec 2026
The name of Anzor Amiraliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alania say nothing, which says plenty.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
The stands have heard the Artur Kozyrev talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Alania would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Soslan Kachmazov damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 Alania, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Timur Chetoev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timur Chetoev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alania the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Alania
Batraz Gurtsiev 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every Alania game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Alania
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Foma Spiridonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Artem Zakirov 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 Artem Zakirov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Anzor Amiraliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alania say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alania lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Timur Chetoev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alania they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Alania
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Batraz Gurtsiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 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 Alania this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
A six-pointer for Alania
Mashuk next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Strogino to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alania and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Strogino's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Strogino has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑4 to SKA Khabarovsk 2, 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Boris Shevtsov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Strogino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Oct 2026
Strogino leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad26 Oct 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 Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Strogino
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Strogino can tell you which week it ends in.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Alania's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alania has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Timur Chetoev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timur Chetoev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alania the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match26 Sep 2026
Alania cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Alania
Alan Bagaev 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 Sep 2026
Ivan Matyushenko 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of David Byazrov
“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.
Match28 Sep 2026
The half-term report on Alania
Position 7, 8 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
Volna come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alania did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Alania
Alan Bagaev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Sarmat Ogoev has come up in conversations Alania were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rodion Titov 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Boris Shevtsov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match8 Aug 2026
Three points for Alania, 1‑0 the final word against Dinamo Moscow 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.90 on the card, and the Alania support went home talking about one name.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Maksim Samsonov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.