Marked for Rasmus Dalsgaard
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings25 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.
Squad25 Dec 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Metallurg is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match23 Dec 2028
Arsenal Tula 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Rasmus Dalsgaard has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Metallurg is pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Vildan Yermilov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Kobzev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Nov 2028
4 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Ilnur Badrtdinov 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Kobzev
“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 dugout27 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Rasmus Dalsgaard has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Metallurg is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pakhomov 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Aleksandr Gubin left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Oct 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 Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
After 7 games, Metallurg finally taste it again
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Alania; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Alania left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Kononenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Rasmus Dalsgaard has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Metallurg is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Aleksandr Gubin after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vildan Yermilov and Metallurg agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Serrano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Dmitry Pakhomov 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 dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Mironshoh Shonazarov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Metallurg is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Wages swallow 116% of the Metallurg 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Metallurg told Rasmus Dalsgaard something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market12 Jun 2028
The Dmitry Savin talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Metallurg know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 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 Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Savva Potapov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savva Potapov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metallurg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Serrano 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.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Metallurg cannot sign anybody
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.
Squad22 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 May 2028
Savva Potapov 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 Savva Potapov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 May 2028
The name of Alexey Skvortsov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 May 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Questions about Rasmus Dalsgaard on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Serrano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
Metallurg are $4.5M 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Razzaa Fachrezi, and the manager let it.
Market10 Apr 2028
The name of Maxim Vedeneev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout10 Apr 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
Uneasy
Squad13 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Serrano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The borrowing at Metallurg reaches $4.4M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Market13 Mar 2028
Metallurg have made Savva Potapov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout13 Mar 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 Metallurg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market13 Mar 2028
The name of Maxim Vedeneev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Grigorjev
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metallurg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market3 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Savva Potapov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savva Potapov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metallurg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Metallurg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Jan 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 Metallurg can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Alexandr Kobzev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
$66.1K of the owner's money at Metallurg
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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Jan 2028
Arsenal Tula 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.