Marked for Boris Isakov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Sep 2029
Chelyabinsk 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Uralets-TS were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market1 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match29 Sep 2029
The drought breaks for Uralets-TS
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chelyabinsk 2 were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
He is 22 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 dugout1 Oct 2029
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Player ratings1 Oct 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Wages eat 100% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Zakhar Gorelov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Sep 2029
Only the photograph left for Boris Isakov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boris Isakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The owner puts $54.4K into Uralets-TS
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.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
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Match1 Sep 2029
Late, late show earns Uralets-TS a point
Minute 90, against Krylya Sovetov 2, 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.
Market3 Sep 2029
3 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Rotor have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Wages swallow 85% of the Uralets-TS 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Krylya Sovetov 2 leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Aug 2029
0‑3 to Nosta, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market6 Aug 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
An order from above at Uralets-TS: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market6 Aug 2029
Boris Isakov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The owner puts $51.4K into Uralets-TS
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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Timofey Kashitsyn has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Uralets-TS have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
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.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2029
Georgy Suanov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad9 Jul 2029
The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Yegor Vedernikov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Georgy Suanov has agreed terms with Spartak Kostroma for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market9 Jul 2029
Boris Isakov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Georgy Suanov 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 dugout9 Jul 2029
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The dugout9 Jul 2029
“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
Match4 Jun 2029
Uralets-TS are in real trouble now
Position 10, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The terraces4 Jun 2029
Anger at Uralets-TS 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
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Market4 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$39.5K from the owner keeps Uralets-TS 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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 dugout4 Jun 2029
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nikita Amosov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match7 May 2029
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces7 May 2029
Anger at Uralets-TS 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.
Market7 May 2029
“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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout7 May 2029
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Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 May 2029
Ilja Petukhov 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The owner puts $33.5K into Uralets-TS
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 May 2029
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Suanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Apr 2029
Uralets-TS are in real trouble now
Position 10, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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Market9 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Boris Isakov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boris Isakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Ilja Petukhov 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uralets-TS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Mar 2029
Every point is an argument now for Uralets-TS
Position 10 and 21 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 Mar 2029
“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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
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Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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 dugout12 Mar 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serafim Grozovskiy is on it.
Market12 Mar 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uralets-TS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market12 Mar 2029
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Uralets-TS money.
Market12 Mar 2029
Uralets-TS have made Dmitry Khokhlov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Mar 2029
“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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Uralets-TS
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Uralets-TS is running low.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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Market5 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$20.0K from the owner keeps Uralets-TS 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Khokhlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bogdan Suvorov is on it.
Market5 Mar 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Vedernikov signs something — a contract at Uralets-TS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Uralets-TS says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Uralets-TS until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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Boardroom26 Feb 2029
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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The borrowing at Uralets-TS reaches $4.7M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodion Shapovalov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Feb 2029
The bid was some way short and Uralets-TS did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Uralets-TS
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Everything agreed with Irtysh, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
No thanks: Yegor Lipaev rejects the move
Uralets-TS had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kaluga, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
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Market5 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The owner puts $28.5K into Uralets-TS
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Market8 Jan 2029
Boris Isakov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Ilja Petukhov 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$22.3K of the owner's money at Uralets-TS
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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Khokhlov 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
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Squad8 Jan 2029
Georgy Knyazev is the division's best young player this month
At 17 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Uralets-TS will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Dmitry Khokhlov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dmitry Khokhlov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Uralets-TS have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market8 Jan 2029
Dmitry Anisimov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Uralets-TS has been clear about where Dmitry Anisimov stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Ilja Petukhov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
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Squad1 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Khokhlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
Uralets-TS are $4.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market1 Jan 2029
No place for Airat Musin in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Airat Musin has his answer from Uralets-TS; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Nil Zaitsev
“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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bogdan Suvorov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Dec 2028
Uralets-TS finish in position 10
21 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
A brace, and Dmitry Khokhlov takes the afternoon — 8.22
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitry Khokhlov provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market11 Dec 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Dec 2028
Only the photograph left for Boris Isakov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boris Isakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Ilja Petukhov 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Khokhlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces11 Dec 2028
He is 22 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.
Match9 Dec 2028
A 2‑0 win over Chelyabinsk 2, 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
Crisis
Match11 Nov 2028
7 matches without a win for Uralets-TS
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Uralets-TS are no longer polite ones.
Market13 Nov 2028
Boris Isakov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Suanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Nov 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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 dugout13 Nov 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nikita Amosov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serafim Grozovskiy is on it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Yegor Vedernikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Oct 2028
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Khokhlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
The afternoon belonged to Ilja Volnov
A mark of 7.53, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serafim Grozovskiy is on it.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nikita Amosov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Uralets-TS dressing room was either.
Match14 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Nosta will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Uralets-TS's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Uralets-TS has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Marked 7.67 at 16, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market18 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Ilja Volnov 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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rayat Sharafutdinov, and the manager let it.
Match16 Sep 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nikita Amosov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uralets-TS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match16 Aug 2028
The small margins put Uralets-TS out
Out, 0‑1 to Dinamo Vladivostok, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match19 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Uralets-TS
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market21 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Georgy Suanov 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 ratings21 Aug 2028
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.90, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Match19 Aug 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
The leaders are next for Uralets-TS
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The dugout
No hiding place for Dmitry Yefimov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
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Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Khokhlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Ilja Volnov 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
0‑1 to Khimik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Nikita Amosov to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Alania have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Uralets-TS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uralets-TS have done the hard part with Textilschik, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
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Squad10 Jul 2028
Dmitry Khokhlov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
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Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uralets-TS have done the hard part with Alania, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Uralets-TS asked and Spartak Tambov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Khokhlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Maxim Gorin 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.
Market3 Jul 2028
Add another name to the list: Zenit Penza have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Boris Isakov. The answer from Uralets-TS has not changed — yet.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Uralets-TS sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Nobody arrives at Uralets-TS until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Uralets-TS this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 May 2028
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 May 2028
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Yegor Vedernikov 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
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Squad22 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Boris Isakov and Uralets-TS agree another 3 years.
The dugout22 May 2028
“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 dugout22 May 2028
Bogdan Suvorov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
Market22 May 2028
The name of Danil Kazantsev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Uralets-TS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 May 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 May 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 May 2028
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Squad15 May 2028
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Squad15 May 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 May 2028
“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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 130% of the Uralets-TS 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 dugout15 May 2028
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
Market15 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ilja Petukhov signs something — a contract at Uralets-TS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad15 May 2028
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Uralets-TS will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 May 2028
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Squad1 May 2028
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Khokhlov, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Airat Musin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 May 2028
The name of Giovanni Farneti keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Uralets-TS say nothing, which says plenty.