Marked for Nikolay Plotnikov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match15 Jan 2028
8 matches without a win for Fakel
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Fakel are no longer polite ones.
Market17 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fakel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Ilnur Alshin in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fakel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilnur Alshin
“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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nichita Moțpan will call it something else in private.
Match15 Jan 2028
It needed Georgy Gongadze to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Ufa, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
The spotlight tightens on Ilnur Alshin
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Market17 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Darko Todorović’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Dec 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Plotnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fakel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Fakel
Stanislav Magkeev 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Darko Todorović
“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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Torpedo Moscow left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Market20 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darko Todorović signs something — a contract at Fakel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
5.59 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Daniil Frolkin: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match17 Nov 2027
Cup progress for Fakel
A 0‑0 win over Baltika, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market22 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Plotnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fakel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Fakel
Stanislav Magkeev 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fakel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Fakel
Stanislav Magkeev 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
A bad afternoon for Fakel against KAMAZ
1‑2 to KAMAZ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniil Frolkin
“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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Fakel
6 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fakel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Fakel
Stanislav Magkeev 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darko Todorović, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match25 Sep 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Chelyabinsk leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market27 Sep 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darko Todorović signs something — a contract at Fakel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Merabi Uridia unhappy with how he is being used
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Merabi Uridia has let it be known that he does not like the way Fakel are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
In brief
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Squad
Max Dziov knocks on the manager's door
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Boardroom
Fakel keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 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 Fakel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Fakel
4 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Fakel
Stanislav Magkeev 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market13 Sep 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Murom will make the call about Nikolay Plotnikov this week. Fakel have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anton Kovalev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
Rubin pay $3.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Fakel
Ilnur Alshin 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
As if he never left: Arseny Burov returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Arseny Burov is a Fakel player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market19 Jul 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nikolay Plotnikov is a Fakel player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market19 Jul 2027
As if he never left: Yuriy Guryev returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Yuriy Guryev is a Fakel player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Fakel get the job done against Yenisey
A 1‑0 win over Yenisey, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.