Marked for Viktor Bessonov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Dec 2030
Viktor Bessonov damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Vadim Shilov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market23 Dec 2030
Emil Maiorov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ufa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match21 Dec 2030
No end in sight to Ufa's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ufa has to find a result from somewhere.
Match21 Dec 2030
Ufa cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad23 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Segundo Pachamé 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.
Boardroom23 Dec 2030
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.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
The formation has left Idriz Batha behind
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Market
Still no signature from Segundo Pachamé
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Viktor Bessonov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Dec 2030
“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.
Market16 Dec 2030
Only the photograph left for Makar Zubov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Makar Zubov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Segundo Pachamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Oleg Tyulkov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ufa have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match14 Dec 2030
The goals have deserted Ufa
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ufa can tell you which week it ends in.
Match14 Dec 2030
Ufa come up short against Baltika
Baltika left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Dec 2030
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Nikolai Lavrov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
A promise honoured at Ufa
Something was said to Segundo Pachamé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Dec 2030
Viktor Bessonov damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Market9 Dec 2030
Only the photograph left for Artem Ivanov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Ivanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ufa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Shipunov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces9 Dec 2030
Ufa supporters have found a favourite in Vadim Shilov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vadim Shilov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad9 Dec 2030
6 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Ronvel, and the manager let it.
Boardroom9 Dec 2030
97% of the income goes out in wages at Ufa
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Viktor Bessonov
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market2 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Dec 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ufa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Segundo Pachamé 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 dugout2 Dec 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match30 Nov 2030
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Rodina
0‑1 to Rodina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Dec 2030
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Market2 Dec 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Emil Maiorov in a row with a teammate
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The dugout
When it matters, Vadim Shilov plays