Marked for Christopher Simmons
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Feb 2031
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Nalchik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market3 Feb 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartak Nalchik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market3 Feb 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Spartak Nalchik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Feb 2031
An average of 7.23 in a first team he is several years too young for. Spartak Nalchik have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Nalchik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
$73.7K of the owner's money at Spartak Nalchik
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo Moscow have kept their man, and Spartak Nalchik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soslan Lysenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Jan 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Nalchik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Andemir Goguzokov 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Drogunov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom20 Jan 2031
Wages swallow 118% of the Spartak Nalchik 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Goncalo Fernandes is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Makar Borodin, and the manager let it.
Market20 Jan 2031
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Spartak Nalchik could ask drops and the wages Christopher Simmons can ask rise.
Market20 Jan 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spartak Nalchik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Jan 2031
Daniil Safonov damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Match13 Jan 2031
Position 6 on 41 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings13 Jan 2031
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 19 — 8.24
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad13 Jan 2031
He is 19, he is averaging 7.33, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings13 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Vladislav Drogunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soslan Lysenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Jan 2031
Daniil Safonov damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
He is 18, he is averaging 7.24, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Christopher Simmons, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad6 Jan 2031
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Spartak Nalchik have had the benefit of it.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Alan Khachirov 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.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
$56.5K from the owner keeps Spartak Nalchik afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
“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.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match4 Jan 2031
Minute 92, against Druzhba, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Safonov
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Nalchik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Dec 2030
“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 ratings30 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Christopher Simmons and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Match28 Dec 2030
0‑1 to Rostov 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom30 Dec 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Safonov
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Nalchik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Dec 2030
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market23 Dec 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christopher Simmons will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Nalchik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christopher Simmons did not need any: 8.27, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Spartak Nalchik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soslan Lysenko 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 terraces23 Dec 2030
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Ninety minutes of Maxim Kovzikov at his very best
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spartak Nalchik.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Safonov
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Nalchik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A season average of 7.28 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Spartak Nalchik know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 19 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 Dec 2030
Alan Khachirov 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.
Match14 Dec 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
The borrowing at Spartak Nalchik reaches $5.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Joe Walters
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Maxim Kovzikov knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Dec 2030
Daniil Safonov damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Dec 2030
An average of 7.18 in a first team he is several years too young for. Spartak Nalchik have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Ivan Litvenok and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Spartak Nalchik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Drogunov 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 dugout9 Dec 2030
A promise honoured for Joe Walters
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Spartak Nalchik told Joe Walters something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
Ivan Litvenok knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Nalchik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Dec 2030
“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
Steady
Squad2 Dec 2030
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Nalchik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Nov 2030
12 matches without defeat, and then Pobeda. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Match30 Nov 2030
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Soslan Lysenko 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.
Market2 Dec 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alan Khachirov has his answer from Spartak Nalchik; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Nov 2030
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Nalchik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Nov 2030
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Spartak Nalchik did not have in the autumn.
Market25 Nov 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Nalchik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Marked 8.14 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.81 for the rest of it.
Squad25 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Drogunov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces25 Nov 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Kovzikov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Safonov
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Nalchik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Nov 2030
Maxim Kovzikov wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Maxim Kovzikov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Astrakhan went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Match9 Nov 2030
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Christopher Simmons, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad11 Nov 2030
An average of 7.12 in a first team he is several years too young for. Spartak Nalchik have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad11 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Soslan Lysenko 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.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Safonov
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Nalchik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
Goncalo Fernandes, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match2 Nov 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Alan Khachirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Words at Spartak Nalchik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Drogunov 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 terraces4 Nov 2030
At 18 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Oct 2030
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Nalchik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Oct 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Nalchik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 19 — 7.68
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match26 Oct 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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 terraces28 Oct 2030
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Oct 2030
At 19, Goncalo Fernandes is already the best thing here
An average of 7.15 in a first team he is several years too young for. Spartak Nalchik have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market21 Oct 2030
“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 Spartak Nalchik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Oct 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Soslan Lysenko 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.
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
The borrowing at Spartak Nalchik reaches $5.6M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad21 Oct 2030
25 games in 127 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Ustinov
“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
Triumph
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Christopher Simmons, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.20, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad14 Oct 2030
An average of 7.03 in a first team he is several years too young for. Spartak Nalchik have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Alan Khachirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Oct 2030
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Spartak Nalchik did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Drogunov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Oct 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alan Khachirov. 2‑1 against Dinamo Stavropol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match14 Oct 2030
23 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Oct 2030
“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 ratings7 Oct 2030
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 19 — 8.46
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 8.46, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad7 Oct 2030
13 seasons and 307 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alan Khachirov commits to Spartak Nalchik for another 2 years.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Andemir Goguzokov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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 terraces7 Oct 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Christopher Simmons has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match5 Oct 2030
A 2‑0 win over Druzhba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 18 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Vladislav Drogunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soslan Lysenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Joe Walters 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.
Boardroom30 Sep 2030
95% of the income goes out in wages at Spartak Nalchik
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.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Goncalo Fernandes is the weekend's best young player
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Match28 Sep 2030
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Rostov 2 defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market16 Sep 2030
“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 Spartak Nalchik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 18 — 8.36
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Alan Khachirov 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 terraces16 Sep 2030
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Marked 8.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match14 Sep 2030
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Goncalo Fernandes had Spartak Nalchik level again within 3 minutes, and Sochi 2 never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Sep 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Nalchik can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
No sign of nerves from Goncalo Fernandes at 18 — 7.63
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Fernandes did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Window shuts: 19 in, 13 out at Spartak Nalchik
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad9 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Sep 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krylya Sovetov have kept their man, and Spartak Nalchik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soslan Lysenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces9 Sep 2030
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match7 Sep 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alan Khachirov. 1‑0 against Rubin Yalta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market26 Aug 2030
“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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Spartak Nalchik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Khachirov 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.
Match24 Aug 2030
0‑2 to Angusht, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
The borrowing at Spartak Nalchik reaches $5.4M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
“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 dugout26 Aug 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom12 Aug 2030
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Market12 Aug 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Nalchik can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christopher Simmons did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Nalchik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Alan Khachirov 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.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Spartak Nalchik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Boardroom12 Aug 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 55. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Aug 2030
“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.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Vladislav Drogunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
$46.2K from the owner keeps Spartak Nalchik afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Alan Khachirov 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.
Match3 Aug 2030
Legion left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
“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
Steady
Market29 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rodina M waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Nalchik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Nalchik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christopher Simmons did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zenit is saying, and nobody at Spartak Nalchik is enjoying the guessing.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
Still no name above the door at Spartak Nalchik
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words at Spartak Nalchik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soslan Lysenko 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 terraces29 Jul 2030
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Market22 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Amur Khatsukov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amur Khatsukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Nalchik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 ratings22 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Alan Khachirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jul 2030
Ali Aboutrika 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 Spartak Nalchik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Spartak Nalchik asked and Torpedo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Alan Khachirov 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.
Boardroom15 Jul 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
Ivan Litvenok 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 Ivan Litvenok trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Jul 2030
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Spartak Nalchik money.
Market15 Jul 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khakim Kadykoev signs something — a contract at Spartak Nalchik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jul 2030
“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.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Spartak Nalchik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Nalchik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and Spartak Nalchik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Vladislav Drogunov 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.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
The borrowing at Spartak Nalchik reaches $5.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Spartak Nalchik have made the call to Dinamo Bryansk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christopher Simmons trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.