Marked for John Moore
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2040
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Nov 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ryazan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Nov 2040
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Nov 2040
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Nov 2040
John Moore takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings12 Nov 2040
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match10 Nov 2040
Orel made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 5‑4 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Nov 2040
“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; Ryazan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings12 Nov 2040
Ninety minutes of John Moore at his very best
Marked 9.96. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
Match10 Nov 2040
John Moore among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, John Moore on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ryazan and Orel.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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 Nov 2040
Gilmar Paredes 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
Match3 Nov 2040
The wait goes on for Ryazan
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Nov 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramil Khuranov and Ryazan agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Nov 2040
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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2040
$226.0K of the owner's money at Ryazan
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match3 Nov 2040
Zenit Penza left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Nov 2040
Maxim Mamashev 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.
Squad5 Nov 2040
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Ryazan who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Player ratings5 Nov 2040
John Moore changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Ryazan had a different afternoon.
Player ratings5 Nov 2040
Successful dribbles: 7. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Oct 2040
A 2-goal lead gone for Ryazan
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Kvant kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ryazan will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
A brace, and Nacer Courtois takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nacer Courtois provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match20 Oct 2040
The wait goes on for Ryazan
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Maxim Mamashev 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 terraces22 Oct 2040
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nacer Courtois 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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom22 Oct 2040
The Ryazan debt reaches $7.5M
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.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Alexandr Maslov 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.
Squad22 Oct 2040
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Soslan Cherdzhiev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Oct 2040
John Moore 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Oct 2040
The wait goes on for Ryazan
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad15 Oct 2040
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.
Squad15 Oct 2040
Gilmar Paredes 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2040
Ryazan 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.
Squad15 Oct 2040
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcos Ortega, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Sep 2040
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market17 Sep 2040
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match15 Sep 2040
Nobody wants to play Ryazan right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad17 Sep 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Match15 Sep 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Valkov. 3‑1 against Znamya Truda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Sep 2040
Gilmar Paredes 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2040
Ryazan 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.
Squad17 Sep 2040
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ryazan know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad17 Sep 2040
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Daniil Valkov has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Sep 2040
The run at home goes on for Ryazan
19 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match8 Sep 2040
Whatever happens, Ryazan do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Sep 2040
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.
Match8 Sep 2040
A 2‑1 win over Strogino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Sep 2040
Maxim Mamashev 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 terraces10 Sep 2040
At 23 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2040
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ryazan had the best player on the pitch.
Market10 Sep 2040
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Sep 2040
John Moore dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2040
Ryazan through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Murom, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match18 Aug 2040
Nobody wins at Ryazan
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market20 Aug 2040
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings20 Aug 2040
Douwe Vernooij, 34, rolls back the years — 8.01
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match18 Aug 2040
Still nobody has beaten Ryazan
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Player ratings20 Aug 2040
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Mamashev 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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2040
Ryazan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Jul 2040
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match28 Jul 2040
Ryazan make home a hard place to visit
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad30 Jul 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Match28 Jul 2040
Three points for Ryazan, 2‑1 the final word against Metallurg in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Jul 2040
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Mamashev 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.
Boardroom30 Jul 2040
Ryazan are $6.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad30 Jul 2040
John Moore gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad30 Jul 2040
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.
Market30 Jul 2040
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ryazan money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Jul 2040
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market23 Jul 2040
John Moore 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Jul 2040
Ryazan make home a hard place to visit
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings23 Jul 2040
Nacer Courtois, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 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.
Squad23 Jul 2040
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.
Match21 Jul 2040
Three points for Ryazan, 3‑1 the final word against Dinamo Bryansk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Jul 2040
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilmar Paredes 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 terraces23 Jul 2040
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nacer Courtois 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2040
No signings allowed at Ryazan
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jun 2040
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Jun 2040
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match25 Jun 2040
Ryazan up to position 3
40 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market25 Jun 2040
The deal that would have taken Pierpaolo Serafini to Saturn has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Ryazan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad25 Jun 2040
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.
Squad25 Jun 2040
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilmar Paredes 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jun 2040
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom11 Jun 2040
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ryazan
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market11 Jun 2040
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pierpaolo Serafini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Jun 2040
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.
Squad11 Jun 2040
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilmar Paredes 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2040
146% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jun 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Shuvalov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Jun 2040
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Jun 2040
The Ryazan board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market4 Jun 2040
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jun 2040
The phone has started ringing about John Moore again, and this time the name on the line is Maccabi Haifa. Ryazan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jun 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gilmar Paredes commits to Ryazan for another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Squad4 Jun 2040
“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; Ryazan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market4 Jun 2040
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ryazan could get for him.
In brief
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The terraces
The stands have heard the John Moore talk too
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Boardroom
Ryazan were not finished after all
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 May 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Shuvalov
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 May 2040
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match28 May 2040
Ryazan up to position 3
40 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 May 2040
Jonata Machado 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.
Boardroom28 May 2040
No signings allowed at Ryazan
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad28 May 2040
Tempers go at Ryazan
Alexandr Maslov 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
Upbeat
Squad30 Apr 2040
A fracture rules Marcos Ortega out for 27 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.
Squad30 Apr 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexei Belikov
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Apr 2040
“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.
Match30 Apr 2040
Ryazan up to position 3
40 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad30 Apr 2040
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.
Squad30 Apr 2040
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilmar Paredes 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Nov 2039
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ryazan
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad28 Nov 2039
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Nov 2039
7 unbeaten for Ryazan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Ryazan did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Nov 2039
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Squad28 Nov 2039
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonata Machado 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 Nov 2039
268% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings28 Nov 2039
Daniil Valkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad28 Nov 2039
John Moore gets it from the manager
“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.
Match26 Nov 2039
It needed Daniil Valkov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Orel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
The terraces12 Sep 2039
The mood at Ryazan 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.
Player ratings12 Sep 2039
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Sep 2039
“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 Sep 2039
Jonata Machado 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.
Match10 Sep 2039
A 2‑1 win over Rodina M, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Sep 2039
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.
Squad12 Sep 2039
John Moore dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad12 Sep 2039
“I want to play”: Marcel Blanc speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market12 Sep 2039
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Aug 2039
Ryazan through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Leningradets, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market22 Aug 2039
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Aug 2039
Ryazan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ryazan have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Aug 2039
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Squad22 Aug 2039
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonata Machado 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.
Match20 Aug 2039
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramil Khuranov. 2‑1 against Zenit Penza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces22 Aug 2039
Ryazan supporters have found a favourite in John Moore
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. John Moore 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.
Market22 Aug 2039
Add another name to the list: Metallurg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pierpaolo Serafini. The answer from Ryazan has not changed — yet.
Boardroom22 Aug 2039
Ryazan 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Jul 2039
The mood at Ryazan 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.
Squad18 Jul 2039
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market18 Jul 2039
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Jul 2039
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.
Boardroom18 Jul 2039
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ryazan
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.
Match16 Jul 2039
1‑2 to Dinamo Bryansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market18 Jul 2039
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Semyon Novikov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market18 Jul 2039
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lev Knyazev 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.
Market18 Jul 2039
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eduard Cherkasov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Jun 2039
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Squad27 Jun 2039
Gilmar Paredes 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.
Boardroom27 Jun 2039
Ryazan 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.
Squad27 Jun 2039
John Moore gets it from the manager
“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.
Market27 Jun 2039
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ryazan, another week without a signature from Timur Glushakov.
Squad27 Jun 2039
A new face in his position, and Gilmar Paredes suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Ryazan have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Jun 2039
The administrators have gone from Ryazan
A year of somebody else signing off every invoice ends this week. The books are smaller, the squad is smaller, and for the first time since it began the club is allowed to plan.
Boardroom6 Jun 2039
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Evgeni Toporov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom6 Jun 2039
Crisis meeting at Ryazan
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad6 Jun 2039
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ryazan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Jun 2039
“The easiest signature of my career.” Soslan Cherdzhiev and Ryazan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Jun 2039
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilmar Paredes 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Ryazan debt reaches $8.2M
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Squad
Daniil Valkov loses the manager who believed in him
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom16 May 2039
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.
Match16 May 2039
Every point is an argument now for Ryazan
Position 14 and 15 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.
Market16 May 2039
“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.
Squad16 May 2039
Tempers go at Ryazan
Ramil Khuranov 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 May 2039
Wages eat 188% 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.
Squad16 May 2039
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soslan Cherdzhiev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 May 2039
“The easiest signature of my career.” Georgy Natabashvili and Ryazan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 May 2039
Maxim Mamashev 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.
Squad9 May 2039
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.