The Sokol Post
The terraces17 Jul 2028
The mood at Sokol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad17 Jul 2028
The knee: Maksim Demidov out for 30 days
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sokol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market17 Jul 2028
Terms done: Vladislav Kostin is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Yenisey waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sokol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Timur Kraikov stands alone
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match15 Jul 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Sokol
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Sokol
Artem Bykov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
Graduation day at Sokol
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Sokol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Sasin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Jul 2028
Chernomorets take the points off Sokol
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
- Market Miroslav Plotnikov steps up from the Sokol academy
- The dugout The view from the dugout
- The dugout Nikita Gloidman gets it from the manager