Marked for Ivan Cherepanov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Murom lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Murom
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Murom is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Murom
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philipp Dvoretskov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 197% of everything Murom 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Danil Shatalov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ivan Cherepanov
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Murom lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Nov 2027
Murom bow out of the cup
Spartak Moscow go through and Murom go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market22 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Artur Nechaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Nechaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Murom the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Alexey Yevseev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Murom is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Philipp Dvoretskov 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Zheimo
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Murom
Leonid Kuznetsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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 German Mitin left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Nikita Sergeev'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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Ivan Cherepanov damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Squad15 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 Murom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Leonid Kuznetsov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Murom 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 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Islam Orazaev signs something — a contract at Murom or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market15 Nov 2027
Murom have made Philipp Dvoretskov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Nerves in the Murom squad
Ruslan Bolov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
Ivan Cherepanov damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Zavjalov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Murom the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Shamil Gasanov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Murom will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Murom counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Murom now.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Murom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Dvoretskov 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
Words exchanged at Murom
Nikita Sergeev 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager's exit leaves Ruslan Bolov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ruslan Bolov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Zavjalov, and the manager let it.