Marked for Lev Gorbachev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Veles
Dmitry Sergeev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Kirill Korolkov 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.
Market26 Mar 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Lev Gorbachev
“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.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Veles, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Mar 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Galkin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Veles
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad10 Jul 2028
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Veles lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Oleg Smirnov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Veles, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Veles have done the hard part with Spartak Kostroma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Veles
Dmitry Sergeev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Vladislav Volkov 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
106% of the income goes out in wages at Veles
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.
Market10 Jul 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
Konstantin Karimov damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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 Veles, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Veles
Dmitry Sergeev 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Veles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Vladislav Volkov 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
One of our own: Lev Gorbachev joins the Veles first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lev Gorbachev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gennady Kudryavtsev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oleg Cherkasov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.