Marked for Davide Grasso
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelyabinsk 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Berkay Sülüngöz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Aug 2032
0‑1 to Dinamo Vladivostok, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“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 dugout9 Aug 2032
Felix Chapliev 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 Chelyabinsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Aug 2032
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Chelyabinsk 2 could get for him.
Squad9 Aug 2032
At 20 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Chelyabinsk 2 are won quietly and lost loudly.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Chelyabinsk 2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Aug 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chelyabinsk 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Berkay Sülüngöz 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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Chelyabinsk 2 who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
Felix Chapliev 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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chelyabinsk 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2032
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Daniel Santos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chelyabinsk 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
Market5 Jul 2032
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Rafael Oliveira may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad5 Jul 2032
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chelyabinsk 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2032
David Sargsyan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chelyabinsk 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 May 2032
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kopylov 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 dugout31 May 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chelyabinsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Mar 2032
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market29 Mar 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chelyabinsk 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Mar 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; Chelyabinsk 2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
Berkay Sülüngöz 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.
Market29 Mar 2032
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Chelyabinsk 2 money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout15 Mar 2032
Ibrahim Keïta: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chelyabinsk 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artyom Chugunov, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Berkay Sülüngöz 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 dugout15 Mar 2032
Kakha Mikautadze 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Chelyabinsk 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad15 Mar 2032
A first team debut at 20 for Davide Grasso
Off the academy pitches and into a senior shirt, at 20. The parents in the stand will keep the programme, and so will he.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Mar 2032
Every point is an argument now for Chelyabinsk 2
Position 13 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market1 Mar 2032
Davide Grasso 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 Chelyabinsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Mar 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdullah Dorsigov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelyabinsk 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Mar 2032
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chelyabinsk 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Felix Chapliev 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Chelyabinsk 2 will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad1 Mar 2032
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chelyabinsk 2 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Ibrahim Keïta moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chelyabinsk 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Feb 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 Chelyabinsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market16 Feb 2032
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Davide Grasso may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.