Marked for German Gorbachev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Kvant
A 0‑4 beating by Zenit Penza was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Nikita Scherbiy out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kvant will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Kvant
5 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Kvant leaking at the back
5 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Timchenko 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Victor Drăgoi
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Inquest at Kvant
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad31 Aug 2026
9 new faces, and Kvant are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for Kvant
Beaten 1‑4 by Rotor 2, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market17 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.
Squad17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Cruz commits to Kvant for another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Timchenko 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 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Kvant shop where it costs nothing
Carlos Cruz signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
Market17 Aug 2026
Kvant shop where it costs nothing
Jhonesy Vásquez signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Kvant
1‑5 against Ryazan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 6 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 18 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match8 Aug 2026
Alexey Chaplygin among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Alexey Chaplygin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kvant and Ryazan.
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Lev Amosov joins the Kvant first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lev Amosov 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. Vladislav Mamaev 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. German Gorbachev 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.