The Ural Chronicle
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Reziuan Mirzov 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.
Market17 May 2027
Ural promote Luka Ignashevich from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luka Ignashevich has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 May 2027
Nikolai Fokin steps up from the Ural academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikolai Fokin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 May 2027
One of our own: Timofey Anisimov joins the Ural first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timofey Anisimov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 May 2027
One of our own: Vadim Konstantinov joins the Ural first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vadim Konstantinov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout17 May 2027
When it matters, Roy Castillo plays
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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes Ilja Ishkov a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ural. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout17 May 2027
Jerry Orozco 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 Ural, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- The dugout The manager comes out for Galymzhan Kenzhebek
- Loan watch The clock runs down on Artem Mamin at Spartak Kostroma
- Squad Stanislav Antipin is out on the grass again