Marked for Dmitry Sidorov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Dmitry Sidorov out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Akron will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Arseny Dmitriev has agreed terms with Neftekhimik for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad29 Mar 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Yomar Rocha 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Daan Vekemans
“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 dugout29 Mar 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Mar 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 Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Maxim Boldyrev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Boldyrev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Bistrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
When it matters, Yomar Rocha plays
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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Paulo Vitor asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market22 Mar 2027
The name of Slobodan Tedić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Akron know it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Ivan Zlobin 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Bistrović 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Baburin, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Roberto Fernández is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Akron
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.
Squad4 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yomar Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Jan 2027
Rubin take the points off Akron
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Zlobin
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vitaliy Spiridonov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market4 Jan 2027
One of our own: Luka Isakov joins the Akron first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luka Isakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market4 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yegor Ibragimov 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dmitry Sidorov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.