Marked for Ivan Yakovlev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Dinamo Stavropol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Dinamo Stavropol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Shilov 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 121% of the Dinamo Stavropol income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Karasev
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Kratkov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Stavropol will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Artem Shabolin
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Dinamo Stavropol would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Tikhon Zabelin 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Jan 2027
Liepaja come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Stavropol did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Stavropol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Stavropol had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Match2 Jan 2027
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match2 Jan 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Jan 2027
Denis Rubanov is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.27 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Dec 2026
48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market14 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Tikhon Zabelin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tikhon Zabelin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Stavropol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
7.48, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Dinamo Stavropol had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Denis Rubanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dinamo Stavropol will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentin Rusakov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rostov 2? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vladislav Rymar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Stavropol needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Danila Shilov
14 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match5 Dec 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Dinamo Stavropol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kratkov 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Danila Shilov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dinamo Stavropol.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dinamo Stavropol, another week without a signature from Artem Shabolin.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ivan Yakovlev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 53. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Denis Yakuba 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Danila Shilov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
The dugout23 Nov 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.40 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dinamo Stavropol had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Oct 2026
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match10 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Mikhail Gainov takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mikhail Gainov provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout12 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Valentin Rusakov kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Vadim Guskov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dinamo Stavropol has been clear about where Vadim Guskov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Nikita Kashtan delivers — 7.46
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nikita Kashtan scored, was marked 7.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Yakuba and Dinamo Stavropol agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Denis Yakuba in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Stavropol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Kratkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.