Marked for Aleksey Shevchenko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad6 Aug 2029
55 days out for Ilja Gruznov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Textilschik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market6 Aug 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Textilschik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
A brace, and Dmitry Usov takes the afternoon — 9.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitry Usov provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market6 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market6 Aug 2029
Only the photograph left for Yuri Aristov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuri Aristov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Textilschik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match4 Aug 2029
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Evgeny Tatarinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jun 2029
A fracture rules Maxim Polyakov out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Textilschik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market11 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for Yuri Aristov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuri Aristov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Textilschik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Andrey Yevdokimov 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Usov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
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.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Denis Sabusov 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 Denis Sabusov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jun 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Textilschik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market11 Jun 2029
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Textilschik money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
Maxim Polyakov breaks a bone — 129 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Mar 2029
Yuri Aristov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Textilschik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Andrey Yevdokimov 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 dugout19 Mar 2029
Dmitry Usov 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 Dmitry Usov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Jan 2029
The view from the top for Textilschik
36 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Yevdokimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Jakimiuk, and the manager let it.
Market29 Jan 2029
Everyone has stopped pretending: Orel will make the call about Eshonxon Jahbarov this week. Textilschik have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Dmitry Usov 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 Textilschik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Jan 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Textilschik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2028
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad18 Sep 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 Textilschik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Yevdokimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Maxim Noskov
“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 dugout18 Sep 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rodion Medvedev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Evgeny Steshin
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match16 Sep 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Mashuk will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
August Bryld 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.
Market18 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maxim Polyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Jul 2028
The view from the top for Textilschik
40 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.
Market3 Jul 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 Textilschik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jul 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 Textilschik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Yevdokimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Alania have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Textilschik sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Market3 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Andrey Yevdokimov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market3 Jul 2028
5 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
The dugout3 Jul 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
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Textilschik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Yevdokimov 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
Nobody arrives at Textilschik until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Textilschik this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Yevdokimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 May 2028
134% of the income goes out in wages at Textilschik
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Artyom Gorelov
“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.
Market15 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Polyakov signs something — a contract at Textilschik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad15 May 2028
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Textilschik would admit. It shows on Saturdays.