The Spartak Nalchik Herald
Match31 Oct 2026
Spartak Nalchik taken apart
0‑3 to Legion, 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
Renat Balkizov puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Spartak Nalchik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Spartak Nalchik's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Spartak Nalchik has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Spartak Nalchik
Alan Khachirov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Islam Tlupov
11 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
117% of the income goes out in wages at Spartak Nalchik
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Islam Pekov
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Spartak Nalchik 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Vladlen Baranovsky: “No excuses”
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
In brief
- Squad Nikolay Chkalov falls out with a teammate over standards
- The dugout Islam Tlupov left out for tactical reasons at Spartak Nalchik
- The dugout Somebody else is better right now than Yegor Afanasyev