Marked for Anthony Marshall
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom12 Jul 2038
Pressure builds in the Ryazan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market12 Jul 2038
“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 The request is on a desk at Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Tempers go at Ryazan
Svyatoslav Tses' 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.
Squad12 Jul 2038
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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2038
The Ryazan debt reaches $6.5M
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2038
A fracture rules Artem Prokhorov out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Jun 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Jun 2038
Ufa will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Valery Anokhin has pre-agreed a move to Ryazan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timéo Ilunga-Tshiapidia 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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2038
Wages eat 114% of everything Ryazan 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.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Ilja Sokolov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ryazan 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
Crisis
Squad27 Jul 2037
Patrick Obermüller damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Boardroom27 Jul 2037
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Erwan Antonin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Jun 2037
Patrick Obermüller damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Squad29 Jun 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bolton Wanderers may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Erwan Antonin 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 Jun 2037
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market29 Jun 2037
The clock does Anthony Marshall’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bolton Wanderers could ask drops and the wages Anthony Marshall can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jun 2037
Patrick Obermüller damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad1 Jun 2037
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Jun 2037
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad1 Jun 2037
Paul Davies 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.
Squad1 Jun 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivo Zakaria, and the manager let it.
Market1 Jun 2037
The clock does Anthony Marshall’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bolton Wanderers could ask drops and the wages Anthony Marshall can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 May 2037
Patrick Obermüller damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Boardroom4 May 2037
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.
Squad4 May 2037
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Bolton Wanderers will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 May 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chris Forino and Bolton Wanderers agree another 2 years.
Squad4 May 2037
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 May 2037
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.