Marked for Luc Meyer
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2032
12 seasons and 306 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Market6 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shakhter can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Sep 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shakhter is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad6 Sep 2032
A row about effort at Shakhter
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Danilin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2032
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.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
Nobody at Shakhter 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 dugout6 Sep 2032
No hiding place for Luc Meyer
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luc Meyer, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
Ivan Chesnakov 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 Shakhter, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Match31 Jul 2032
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match2 Aug 2032
The season ends: position 2 for Shakhter
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 44 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad2 Aug 2032
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings2 Aug 2032
Luc Meyer, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.50
A mark of 8.50 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market2 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shakhter is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Shakhter
Federico Álvarez 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 ratings2 Aug 2032
Marked 9.64 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad2 Aug 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lev Kurgin and Shakhter agree another 3 years.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Shakhter
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The terraces
The crowd has taken to Luc Meyer
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Jun 2032
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Jun 2032
A fracture rules Aslan Akhmedov out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhter will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 2032
“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 Shakhter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Shakhter
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Danilin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Jun 2032
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad14 Jun 2032
“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; Shakhter are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
Wages eat 85% of everything Shakhter 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
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 Konstantin Nizhegorodov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Apr 2032
Shakhter through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Okzhetpes, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Luc Meyer could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 8.28
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 8.28, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Vitaly Borsuk breaks a bone — 95 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Apr 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Talgat Beysebekov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shakhter the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Shakhter
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Shakhter
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Danilin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces12 Apr 2032
Shakhter supporters have found a favourite in Luc Meyer
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Luc Meyer 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.23, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Feb 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhter will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Feb 2032
“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 targets2 Feb 2032
No thanks: Ivan Budachev rejects the move
Shakhter had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Astana, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Shakhter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Supranovich 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.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
Shakhter asked and Nasaf said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad2 Feb 2032
“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; Shakhter are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
Federico Álvarez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shakhter 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
Steady
Squad12 Jan 2032
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shakhter will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 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 Shakhter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Nikita Supranovich 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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Daniil Agureev pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout12 Jan 2032
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
The dugout12 Jan 2032
Nobody at Shakhter 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.
Market12 Jan 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shakhter, another week without a signature from Pavel Belyaev.
Market12 Jan 2032
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Shakhter could get for him.
The dugout12 Jan 2032
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Shakhter. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
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The dugout
Luc Meyer knocks on the manager's door
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Boardroom
The Shakhter production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jan 2032
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Shakhter had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Nikita Supranovich 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 dugout5 Jan 2032
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
The dugout5 Jan 2032
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.
Market5 Jan 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexey Belikov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shakhter.
Market5 Jan 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shakhter know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match5 Jan 2032
Shakhter have something to play for
Position 4 on 42 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Dec 2031
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Shakhter
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Danilin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
The dugout8 Dec 2031
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 Federico Álvarez is on it.
Market8 Dec 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shakhter know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match8 Dec 2031
Continental football is in reach for Shakhter
42 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Dec 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 Shakhter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Nikita Supranovich 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 dugout1 Dec 2031
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad1 Dec 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Shakhter can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Ji-hun Park has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Shakhter know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market1 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Oct 2031
Daniil Agureev damages knee ligaments — 61 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Federico Álvarez 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Nikita Supranovich 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 dugout13 Oct 2031
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad13 Oct 2031
“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 Shakhter know it.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
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 Federico Álvarez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Astana keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Nikita Supranovich 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.
Transfer targets11 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Shakhter
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Shakhter are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
Wages swallow 94% of the Shakhter income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
A loan move for Nils Balagušs is in the works
Shakhter have made the call to Altamura. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market11 Aug 2031
He is 18, and nobody at Shakhter signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market11 Aug 2031
He is 18, and nobody at Shakhter signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.