Marked for Rodion Plotnikov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Aug 2028
0‑1 against Astrakhan, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match21 Aug 2028
10 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ramazan Aliev is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Andrey Yevdokimov 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Yevdokimov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Textilschik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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 Jun 2028
Dmitry Usov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Yevdokimov
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Textilschik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 May 2028
Ivan Korzun 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 Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramazan Aliev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Yevdokimov
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Textilschik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 May 2028
Bastián Pinto 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 Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 May 2028
Evgeny Steshin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
Andrey Yevdokimov damages knee ligaments — 79 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
Market1 May 2028
“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 Textilschik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 May 2028
Andrey Yevdokimov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Yevdokimov
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Textilschik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market27 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Yegor Mikheev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Mikheev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Textilschik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Textilschik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
No signings allowed at Textilschik
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Maxim Noskov 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.
Market27 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Ryabinkin signs something — a contract at Textilschik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Textilschik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
No signings allowed at Textilschik
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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Noskov, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Andrey Putilov 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 Textilschik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Ryabinkin signs something — a contract at Textilschik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 2028
“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 Textilschik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The Textilschik debt reaches $5.3M
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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Andrey Putilov 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 Andrey Putilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Andrey Yevdokimov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Rodion Plotnikov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Textilschik 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Textilschik have let the market know Andrey Putilov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Anger at Textilschik 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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Fyodor Markov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Textilschik can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Nov 2027
Bastián Pinto 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 Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Textilschik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Yegor Mikheev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Mikheev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Textilschik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The owner puts $15.0K into Textilschik
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Textilschik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Yevdokimov 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.
Squad8 Nov 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 Textilschik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmitry Usov 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
The terraces11 Oct 2027
Anger at Textilschik 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Alexandr Ryabinkin: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match11 Oct 2027
17 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
No sign of nerves from Rodion Plotnikov at 17 — 7.78
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rodion Plotnikov did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market11 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Yegor Mikheev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Mikheev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Textilschik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Textilschik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Yevdokimov 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bastián Pinto. 1‑0 against Sibir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Dmitry Usov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Aug 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 Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Textilschik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Rodion Plotnikov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rodion Plotnikov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Textilschik have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market2 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrey Yevdokimov signs something — a contract at Textilschik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.