The Irkutsk Courier
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Dmitry Ikovanyuk out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irkutsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Mar 2027
The view from the top for Irkutsk
57 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad8 Mar 2027
At 20, Vojtěch Hranoš is already the best thing here
An average of 7.14 in a first team he is several years too young for. Irkutsk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Irkutsk
Vadim Churilov 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 Mar 2027
Irkutsk agree a free transfer for Vyacheslav Frolov
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Market8 Mar 2027
One of our own: Nikolay Zaitsev joins the Irkutsk first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikolay Zaitsev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
Irkutsk promote Dmitri Pugachev from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dmitri Pugachev 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Valentin Zolotov steps up from the Irkutsk academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentin Zolotov 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
One of our own: Igor Drozdov joins the Irkutsk first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Igor Drozdov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- The dugout No hiding place for Dario Maričević
- Squad Vojtěch Hranoš is the division's best young player this month
- Boardroom Belts tighten at Irkutsk