Marked for Daniel Suarez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jun 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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Orel have done the hard part with Metallurg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Tempers go at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Orel asked and KDV Tomsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
No signings allowed at Orel
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Musa Saifutdinov, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Orel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matei Romănescu 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 dugout24 Jun 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 Jun 2030
Still no signature from Maxim Isaev
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Orel could get for him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 May 2030
Gavriil Maslov damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Market27 May 2030
Mikkel Jepsen hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom27 May 2030
No signings allowed at Orel
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Orel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matei Romănescu 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.
Squad27 May 2030
Tempers go at Orel
Andrei Lapin 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 dugout27 May 2030
Igor Bugaenko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Orel 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.
The dugout27 May 2030
A promise honoured at Orel
Something was said to Ramadan Hegazi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout27 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Suarez, and the manager let it.
Market27 May 2030
Maxim Isaev linked with a move away
The name of Maxim Isaev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Orel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 May 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gavriil Maslov
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 May 2030
A falling-out at Orel
Georgy Borisov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market20 May 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.
The dugout20 May 2030
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.
Market20 May 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emrakh Nabatov signs something — a contract at Orel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 May 2030
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Orel money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Apr 2030
Mikkel Jepsen hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Apr 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Orel know it.
Boardroom29 Apr 2030
No signings allowed at Orel
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad29 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Orel
Nikita Karasjov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Igor Bugaenko
“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 dugout29 Apr 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgy Borisov, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Orel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matei Romănescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Orel
Nikita Karasjov 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 dugout22 Apr 2030
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Georgy Borisov is on it.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“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.
Market22 Apr 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emrakh Nabatov signs something — a contract at Orel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market22 Apr 2030
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Orel money.
Market22 Apr 2030
Orel have made Tigran Armenakyan available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad22 Apr 2030
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Orel the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Apr 2030
“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 Orel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Apr 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; Orel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market8 Apr 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Orel
Andrei Lapin 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 Apr 2030
Vadim Averkiev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Orel 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.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
Maxim Isaev 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.
Market8 Apr 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market8 Apr 2030
Maxim Isaev runs his contract down
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Orel money.
Squad8 Apr 2030
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 Orel would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Apr 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Orel
Georgy Borisov 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.
Boardroom1 Apr 2030
Orel 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Orel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matei Romănescu 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.
Market1 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
Igor Bugaenko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Orel 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
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 Orel would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 Apr 2030
Maxim Isaev linked with a move away
The name of Maxim Isaev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Orel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Mar 2030
A falling-out at Orel
Georgy Borisov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Mar 2030
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vyacheslav Gordienko, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Mikkel Jepsen 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 dugout25 Mar 2030
Georgy Borisov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Orel 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.
Market25 Mar 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emrakh Nabatov signs something — a contract at Orel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market25 Mar 2030
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Orel could get for him.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Nikita Karasjov 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Orel has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
No sign of nerves from Tyler Morrison at 18 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tyler Morrison did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market4 Mar 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.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings4 Mar 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.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Legion have kept their man, and Orel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Mar 2030
A bad afternoon for Orel against Strogino
1‑2 to Strogino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The terraces4 Mar 2030
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadim Averkiev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
Orel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Feb 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Orel
Georgy Borisov 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Igor Bugaenko and Orel agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Orel know it.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaluga have kept their man, and Orel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Feb 2030
It finished 2‑0, and it was Roy Warholm’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Orel.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
No signings allowed at Orel
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Market4 Feb 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Orel, another week without a signature from Vitaly Borsuk.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Jan 2030
Kvant take the points off Orel
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadim Averkiev, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Orel
Nikita Karasjov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Jan 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Orel, another week without a signature from Gennady Kiselev.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dmitriy Shestakov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead14 Jan 2030
The leaders are next for Orel
Spartak Tambov top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad14 Jan 2030
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Orel will feel it on Saturday.
Market14 Jan 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jan 2030
Daniel Suarez hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Match5 Jan 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
No signings allowed at Orel
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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 dugout7 Jan 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dmitriy Shestakov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vyacheslav Gordienko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
Igor Bugaenko gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Bugaenko is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Dec 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Maxim Isaev is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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.
Market31 Dec 2029
The name of Emrakh Nabatov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Orel say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kyprianos Andreou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad31 Dec 2029
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Looking ahead31 Dec 2029
A side in position 11 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Vitaly Borsuk makes the division’s eleven — 6.95
Marked 6.95, and picked in the team of the week for it. He was the best player on that pitch and the selectors saw the same match everybody else did.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager comes out for Roy Warholm
-
Boardroom
The Orel academy earns its keep
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 Dec 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 Orel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Up for the corner, and Emrakh Nabatov delivers — 7.76
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Emrakh Nabatov scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match8 Dec 2029
Three points for Orel, 4‑3 the final word against SKA Khabarovsk 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Match8 Dec 2029
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Orel and SKA Khabarovsk 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces10 Dec 2029
Orel supporters have found a favourite in Roy Warholm
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Roy Warholm 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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Orel 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.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Ninety minutes of Georgy Borisov at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Orel.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Oct 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 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Orel
Georgy Borisov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Mykhaylo Zakharov 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.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Wages eat 263% of everything Orel 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
A bad afternoon for Orel against Alania
0‑1 to Alania, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Roy Warholm gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Oct 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 Orel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Mykhaylo Zakharov 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
A bad afternoon for Orel against Metallurg
0‑1 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
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 0‑1 Dmitriy Shestakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vyacheslav Gordienko is on it.
Market22 Oct 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Igor Bugaenko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market22 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emrakh Nabatov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Oct 2029
Maxim Isaev breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Oct 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 Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Orel's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orel has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Orel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“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; Orel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Wages eat 216% of everything Orel 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A last season at home is what Kyprianos Andreou is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Oct 2029
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Aug 2029
Orel through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Saturn, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
What a way to start for Daniel Suarez — 7.65
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.65 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad20 Aug 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
This is not rotation. Artur Karpov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Orel is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Everything agreed with KAMAZ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad20 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Orel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykhaylo Zakharov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
-
The terraces
Orel supporters have found a favourite in Daniel Suarez
-
Boardroom
No signings allowed at Orel
-
Match
Orel settle it inside twenty minutes
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
Artur Karpov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The deal with Chaika is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Dimitar Hristov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Orel is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Orel
Vadim Averkiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Igor Bugaenko 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
The formation has left Daniel Suarez behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Orel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jun 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 Orel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Orel
Daniil Arsentjev 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
131% of the income goes out in wages at Orel
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Orel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Bugaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Orel know it.
Market11 Jun 2029
Daniel Suarez is 17, and Orel have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad11 Jun 2029
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Igor Bugaenko gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Bugaenko is on it.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Yegor Tinyakov 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 Orel, and both men came out saying it was fine.