Marked for Igor Suslov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Oct 2027
Rubin Yalta are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad25 Oct 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 Rubin Yalta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Georgy Tuaev 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.
Loan watch25 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Torpedo Vladimir to sit and watch. I want to come back to Rubin Yalta and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.52 on the card, and the Rubin Yalta support went home talking about one name.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Rubin Yalta now.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Ilja Glebov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Sep 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 Rubin Yalta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Georgy Tuaev
“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 ratings27 Sep 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Rubin Yalta support went home talking about one name.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rubin Yalta, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Rubin Yalta now.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Alexandr Smirnov 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Aug 2027
Dinamo Vladivostok go through and Rubin Yalta go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Danil Polyakh 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Rubin Yalta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Panamarev 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Georgy Tuaev
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
7.89, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rubin Yalta had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Market23 Aug 2027
Strogino are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Rubin Yalta will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match21 Aug 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Astrakhan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The Rubin Yalta board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Match31 Jul 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Rubin Yalta did not have in the autumn.
Squad2 Aug 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 Rubin Yalta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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 ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market2 Aug 2027
The Igor Suslov conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Strogino will make the call about Igor Suslov this week. Rubin Yalta have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Daniel Yegorov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Daniel Yegorov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.