Marked for Dmitriy Artemov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Jan 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market13 Jan 2031
Only the photograph left for Luís Sampaio
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luís Sampaio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kvant the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market13 Jan 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Kvant, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Kvant
Qədir Ramazanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Kvant
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Peter Haring was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Jan 2031
Rodina M left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Appearance number 100 for Artyom Fokin
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“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.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
The manager makes an example of Sergey Rogov
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Dec 2030
The mood at Kvant 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.
Market9 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kvant can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Vsevolod Sorokin, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A falling-out at Kvant
Abu-Muslim Khamkhoev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Peter Haring 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 terraces9 Dec 2030
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match7 Dec 2030
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match7 Dec 2030
Kvant get the job done against Salyut
A 1‑0 win over Salyut, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Dudko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Marked 8.11 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kvant may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match30 Nov 2030
No end in sight to Kvant's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kvant has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Tempers go at Kvant
Qədir Ramazanov 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 Dec 2030
Peter Haring 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 terraces2 Dec 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Vsevolod Bragin 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.
Market2 Dec 2030
“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.
Match30 Nov 2030
It needed Vsevolod Bragin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rotor 2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces14 Oct 2030
Supporters organise against the Kvant board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Marked 7.82 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match12 Oct 2030
5 matches without a win for Kvant
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Kvant are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Tempers go at Kvant
Peter Haring 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.
Match12 Oct 2030
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy Artemov, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
Peter Haring 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 dugout14 Oct 2030
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.