Marked for Max Metcalfe
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sergey Serchenkov 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 Sep 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aidan Ibrahimaga 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
Daniil Cherkasov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Serchenkov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑2 to KDV Tomsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Max Metcalfe 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑3 against Volna, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniil Cherkasov and Uralets-TS agree another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sergey Serchenkov 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Uralets-TS dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is a particular relief in a club addressing the thing its own crowd has been shouting about. Ignat Polischuk arrives for exactly that job, and now he has to do it.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Daniil Cherkasov is 20, and Uralets-TS have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
584 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oliver Norwood and Stockport County agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Oliver Norwood 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Stockport County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Bate 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Jack Diamond
Still no offer on the table, and Jack Diamond’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.