The Chaika Courier
Market17 Jul 2028
Tom Bradshaw puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Chaika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jul 2028
David Gagua agrees terms with Dinamo Makhachkala
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chaika people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Nikita Ponomarev keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chaika may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Jul 2028
The Kuban deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Gevork Sarkisyan reports back to Chaika with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Nikita Yanovich will not be coming to Chaika
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tyumen is saying, and nobody at Chaika is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Chaika
Tom Bradshaw 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.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Chaika
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Gian Luca Mastromonaco was unplayable
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Chaika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Maasland was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
- Transfer targets Akron tell Chaika: Alexandr Dolgov is not for sale
- Match Chaika come up short against Rotor
- Market Chaika promote Matvey Yakovlev from within