Marked for Prokhor Sazonov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Akron 2
Dmitry Teryaev 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Akron 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Volochay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
A promise honoured at Akron 2
Something was said to Prokhor Sazonov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Akron 2
Dmitry Teryaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Prokhor Sazonov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Apr 2027
The mood at Akron 2 has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Akron 2
Dmitry Teryaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Vladislav Postrigan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
The Saturn deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Prokhor Sazonov reports back to Akron 2 with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Dmitry Teryaev 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikita Chelyshev and Akron 2 agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Roman Volochay 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The name of Maxim Kholodov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 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 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Mar 2027
The phone has started ringing about Prokhor Sazonov again, and this time the name on the line is Saturn. Akron 2 are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Roman Volochay 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 dugout1 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Fedor Fenin moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Akron 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Market1 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Konstantin Tarnolitskiy signs something — a contract at Akron 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 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 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Akron 2
Dmitry Teryaev 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Roman Volochay 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Maxim Boldyrev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Boldyrev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Maxim Boldyrev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Nikita Chelyshev keeps the shirt for now, at Akron 2's convenience rather than his own.
In brief
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Squad
Nerves in the Akron 2 squad
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Match
A season winding down at Akron 2
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Three points for Akron, 2‑1 the final word against Akhmat in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Ilja Kutepov gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khetag Khosonov 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marat Bokoev did the work nobody counts — 7.88
10 combined actions and 7.88. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Market11 Jan 2027
Akron and Leon Musaev are talking past each other
“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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Denis Mamaev kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Akron
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Akron is running low.
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Akron against Sochi
1‑2 to Sochi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitaly Gudiev, and the manager let it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentin Pluzhnikov 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
One of our own: Dmitry Kozlov joins the Akron first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dmitry Kozlov 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fedor Cherkasov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.