Marked for Stanislav Ermakov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jan 2032
Only the photograph left for Yefrem Zotkin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yefrem Zotkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kosmos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Kosmos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Matvevnin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
The manager makes an example of Maxim Abramov
“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 dugout19 Jan 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Magomedsalam Kuniev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Jan 2032
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Kosmos money.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Artur Zezarakhov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kosmos 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kosmos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match19 Jan 2032
Continental football is in reach for Kosmos
38 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Nov 2031
“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.
Match8 Nov 2031
4 matches without a win for Kosmos
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Kosmos are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Kosmos
Anderson Murillo 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.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Matvey Smirnov 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 dugout10 Nov 2031
Danila Matvevnin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kosmos 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 dugout10 Nov 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Mikhail Naumov 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.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad20 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Kosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilsur Valeev 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.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
Wages eat 227% of everything Kosmos 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.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
Kosmos 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.
Market20 Oct 2031
“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 Oct 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match20 Aug 2031
Cup progress for Kosmos
A 1‑0 win over Kuban, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The dugout25 Aug 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Everything agreed with Akron, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match23 Aug 2031
Nobody wants to play Kosmos right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Kosmos
Anderson Murillo 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 targets25 Aug 2031
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Danila Matvevnin 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.
Match23 Aug 2031
Yenisey 2 made Kosmos work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 May 2031
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 May 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom5 May 2031
$73.3K of the owner's money at Kosmos
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 May 2031
Ilsur Valeev 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.
Boardroom5 May 2031
Wages eat 103% of everything Kosmos 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.
Market5 May 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kosmos, another week without a signature from Adam Shikhanmatov.
The dugout5 May 2031
The manager's exit leaves Ian Ortega exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ian Ortega is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Apr 2031
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kosmos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad28 Apr 2031
60 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Apr 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kosmos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad28 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Kosmos
Agustín Guerrero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
“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.
Market28 Apr 2031
The clock does Yegor Tushev’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kosmos could ask drops and the wages Yegor Tushev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Apr 2031
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Tempers go at Kosmos
Adam Shikhanmatov 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 dugout7 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
$64.4K from the owner keeps Kosmos afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad7 Apr 2031
The medical room confirms 20 days on the sidelines for Stanislav Ermakov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market7 Apr 2031
“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.
Market7 Apr 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Konstantin Fadeev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Kosmos.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
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.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Mikhail Naumov 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 Mikhail Naumov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Mar 2031
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets10 Mar 2031
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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
48 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market10 Mar 2031
“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 dugout10 Mar 2031
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.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
Yegor Tushev 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 Kosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Mar 2031
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Matvey Smirnov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Jan 2031
“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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
A fracture rules Konstantin Zimin out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kosmos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Jan 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kosmos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Kosmos
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
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.
Boardroom27 Jan 2031
The Kosmos debt reaches $4.9M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Ufa 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.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Barnaul: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout27 Jan 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kosmos told Yefrem Tarasov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2030
No end in sight to Kosmos's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kosmos has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Nov 2030
Yefrem Zotkin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kosmos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 dugout25 Nov 2030
“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 dugout25 Nov 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Boardroom25 Nov 2030
Kosmos can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
Yegor Tushev 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.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
Gleb Guskov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kosmos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Nov 2030
Only the photograph left for Oleg Kryukov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleg Kryukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kosmos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Kosmos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilsur Valeev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 dugout18 Nov 2030
Danila Matvevnin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kosmos 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 dugout18 Nov 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match16 Nov 2030
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Cherepovets defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout18 Nov 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.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Jul 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kosmos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danila Kuznetsov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kosmos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
The deal with KDV Tomsk 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.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Kosmos asked and Yenisey said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words at Kosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilsur Valeev 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 dugout15 Jul 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.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
A loan move for Yuriy Mamonov is in the works
Kosmos have made the call to Angusht. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
Maxim Abramov 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.
Market15 Jul 2030
The name of Vladislav Teplyakov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kosmos say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 May 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matvey Smirnov and Kosmos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Kosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilsur Valeev 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.
Boardroom13 May 2030
Kosmos have to sell first
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The dugout13 May 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.
The dugout13 May 2030
When it matters, Gleb Guskov plays
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.
Market13 May 2030
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Kosmos money.
Market13 May 2030
The name of Danila Matvevnin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kosmos say nothing, which says plenty.
Match13 May 2030
Kosmos have something to play for
Position 5 on 47 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Squad13 May 2030
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 May 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.
Squad6 May 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kosmos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kosmos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 May 2030
A row about effort at Kosmos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilsur Valeev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 May 2030
Yegor Axionov 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.
Market6 May 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Yershov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.