Marked for Mark Bobylev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Jan 2036
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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikolay Kozlov
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kvant lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Jan 2036
Every point is an argument now for Kvant
Position 13 and 18 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.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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.
Boardroom28 Jan 2036
Pressure builds in the Kvant boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Theodoros Delianidis 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces16 Jul 2035
Anger at Kvant spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Tempers go at Kvant
Marjus Kola 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2035
8 academy players handed senior numbers at Kvant
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Words at Kvant training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theodoros Delianidis 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.
Market16 Jul 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrey Fedoseev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market16 Jul 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rodion Shishkin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market16 Jul 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vsevolod Laptev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Boardroom16 Jul 2035
Kvant cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
In brief
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Boardroom
Kvant board go back on their word
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Boardroom
Kvant turn down the training-ground plan
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Squad
The manager makes an example of Mark Bobylev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Jun 2035
Kvant sink to position 13
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market25 Jun 2035
“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.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Tempers go at Kvant
Eduard Kalinovsky 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Jun 2035
Anger at Kvant spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Kvant
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kvant is running low.
Market18 Jun 2035
“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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Ilya Sidorenko 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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
Kvant cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad18 Jun 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Theodoros Delianidis commits to Kvant for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jul 2034
Anton Dudko breaks a bone — 43 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Jul 2034
Add another name to the list: Tver have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liam Frendo. The answer from Kvant has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Jul 2034
Tempers go at Kvant
Marjus Kola 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.
Squad24 Jul 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mark Bobylev commits to Kvant for another 3 years.
Player ratings24 Jul 2034
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Jul 2034
Irkutsk are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Kvant will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.