Marked for Myron Boadu
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Rubin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Vujačić 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rubin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Dinamo Moscow left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Mark Borovikov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Ilja Rozhkov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Rubin
Baqtiiar Zainutdinov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Rubin game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Krylya Sovetov runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
31 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ugochukwu Iwu has his answer from Rubin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Bogdan Jočić
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Myron Boadu 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 dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Myron Boadu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ilja Samoshnikov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rubin needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Sep 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Emanuel Pentimalli obliged against Saturn. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Rubin.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match5 Oct 2026
Rubin are in real trouble now
Position 14, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Emanuel Pentimalli takes the afternoon — 7.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emanuel Pentimalli provided it, and the 7.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Ilja Rozhkov at 21 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ilja Rozhkov did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Evgeny Staver pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rubin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Bogdan Jočić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Igor Vujačić 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
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Rubin's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rubin has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Rubin know it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Rubin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Vujačić 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Rubin
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rubin
Dmitry Kabutov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ilja Rozhkov 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Rubin
Nazmi Gripshi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match20 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Rubin?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Krasnodar? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The pass was always on for Myron Boadu
Chances created: 7. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ilja Rozhkov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 26 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Rubin are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
Igor Vujačić 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 Rubin can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
Rubin sell a favourite for $1.8M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Konstantin Nizhegorodov was one of the reasons people came, and $1.8M does not replace that by itself.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Rubin until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Rubin
Myron Boadu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Rubin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Vujačić 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Rubin asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Evgeny Staver
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
Ugochukwu Iwu 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 Rubin can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Denil Maldonado has gone, the accounts have $4.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market31 Aug 2026
Dinamo Moscow paid $4.1M and Rubin took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tobol is saying, and nobody at Rubin is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Rubin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Rubin
Ruslan Bezrukov 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rubin had the best player on the pitch.
Match29 Aug 2026
Rubin share the spoils with Akron
A 1‑1 draw with Akron leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
Krasnodar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rubin did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rubin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Vujačić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Rubin
Dmitry Kabutov 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Rubin asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Jacques Siwe at his very best
Marked 8.79. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rubin.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Evgeny Staver
“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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Rubin rescue it on 91 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Krylya Sovetov had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
Rubin say no — this time
The offer from CSKA Moscow for Nazmi Gripshi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Myron Boadu gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Myron Boadu has just signed for Rubin, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nazmi Gripshi and Rubin agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rubin
Anderson Arroyo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 Aug 2026
Spartak Moscow left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Rubin asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Mark Martynov joins the Rubin first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mark Martynov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Platon Malakhov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gavriil Karimov 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.