Marked for Nil Melnikov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Mashuk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Butenko 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 watch13 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Zvezda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mashuk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Market13 Sep 2027
The Ali Kachmar conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Volna will make the call about Ali Kachmar this week. Mashuk have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Match11 Sep 2027
Mashuk and Sibir take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Sergienko, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The plan did not have a place for Vadim Konyukhov
Nobody at Mashuk is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market13 Sep 2027
Mashuk opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Vadim Konyukhov stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Mashuk
Astemir Abazov 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Oleg Suvorov gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Alexandr Butenko 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.
Loan watch26 Jul 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mashuk, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 46. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Jul 2027
Znamya Truda make home a hard place to visit
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
No sign of nerves from Maxim Yurin at 20 — 8.13
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Yurin did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match24 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play Znamya Truda right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Jul 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 Znamya Truda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
At 15 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Yurin. 1‑0 against Dinamo Bryansk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The numbers do not look good at Znamya Truda
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad21 Jun 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Mashuk training over how hard people work
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Mashuk
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Market
Rubin Yalta are about to pick up the phone
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Market
Nil Melnikov goes out on loan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
Artem Abramov damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxim Yurin is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Anatoly Anisimov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashuk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The owner puts $27.8K into Mashuk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Mashuk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Bogomolov 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Mashuk are $3.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yegor Plotnikov and Mashuk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Nobody arrives at Mashuk until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Mashuk this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Market7 Jun 2027
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Mashuk no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Oleg Suvorov breaks a bone — 18 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashuk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Mashuk
Astemir Abazov 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Alexandr Butenko 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.
Loan watch31 May 2027
“I watch every Mashuk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Orel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Oleg Suvorov breaks a bone — 46 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashuk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Mashuk
Astemir Abazov 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 watch3 May 2027
“I watch every Mashuk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Orel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad3 May 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mashuk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Mashuk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Dec 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Dmitry Solovjov takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitry Solovjov provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Yazan Al-Ruwaili: 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.” Kuban Holding have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Kuban Holding right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Sochi 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ivan Zybchenko 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.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 14 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 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Dmitry Mikhailov at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kuban Holding.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Evgeniy Zubov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Nov 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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matvey Smirnov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kuban Holding can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ivan Sergienko 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Astrakhan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.