Marked for Radomir Kuznetsov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Dec 2027
Ilja Kuptsov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veles can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Veles
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Veles is running low.
Match27 Dec 2027
Veles up to position 3
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Dmitry Sadov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Wages swallow 165% of the Veles income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Alexandr Shubin 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Mikhail Rybalko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Veles will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market27 Dec 2027
Pavel Kotov linked with a move away
The name of Pavel Kotov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Veles say nothing, which says plenty.
Market27 Dec 2027
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Veles could ask drops and the wages Vladislav Kostryukov can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Anger at Veles spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rubin Yalta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veles is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Veles
Dmitry Sergeev 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Wages swallow 174% of the Veles income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Market9 Aug 2027
The name of Ionafan Sapozhnikov has come up in conversations Veles were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match7 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vladislav Galkin. 1‑0 against Mashuk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Anger at Veles spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
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.
Match12 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Veles
Position 10 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kosmos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veles is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jul 2027
Karim Giraev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veles can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The deal with Kosmos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Dmitry Sadov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metallurg have kept their man, and Veles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages eat 150% of everything Veles earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 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 Veles, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veles is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Veles
Ishkhan Geloyan 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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
The Veles debt reaches $3.4M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout10 May 2027
Dmitry Kuchugura has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Veles will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Shubin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 May 2027
The Pavel Kotov talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Veles know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market10 May 2027
Veles have let the market know Alexandr Shubin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad10 May 2027
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Veles
1‑4 against Mashuk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Veles
Dmitry Sadov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yuri Safonov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexey Goncharov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Roman Kartashov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Radomir Kuznetsov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Veles 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Nazar Mostovoy to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.