Marked for Mikhail Oparin
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Aug 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Torpedo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Aug 2029
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
This is not rotation. Mario Ćurić has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Danil Kazantsev gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Danil Kazantsev has just signed for Torpedo Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Baltika wanted more than $380.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Mario Ćurić 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 Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xəyal Əliyev 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 dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Oparin, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Ilja Berkovskiy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Neftekhimik, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is enjoying the guessing.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Mario Ćurić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Torpedo Moscow offered $20.0K; Baltika said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Yury Koledin 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Torpedo Moscow asked and Ural said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Jul 2029
“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
Market2 Jul 2029
Sadyg Bagiev 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 Torpedo Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jul 2029
Position 3 and 62 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Rotor wanted more than $3.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Torpedo Moscow asked and Lokomotiv 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
The deal with Lokomotiv Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Mario Ćurić 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
Baltika pay $450.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Szymon Bartlewicz has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aktobe waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Baltika 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match25 Jun 2029
63 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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 Baltika 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Tisch-Rottensteiner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baltika 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Konstantin Shiltsov 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Baltika 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aymane Mourid was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Jun 2029
The phone has started ringing about Mikhail Oparin again, and this time the name on the line is Torpedo Moscow. Baltika 2 are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baltika 2 told Yegor Larionov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Baltika 2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2029
Astana come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Torpedo Moscow did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces25 Jun 2029
Danil Stepanov has gone, the accounts have $2.0M 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.
Market25 Jun 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Torpedo Moscow have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market25 Jun 2029
Sochi paid $2.0M and Torpedo Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Kirill Folmer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise.
Market25 Jun 2029
The paperwork is done: Maxim Bogdanets joins from Krasnodar in a deal worth $270.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Mario Ćurić 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 targets25 Jun 2029
Torpedo Moscow have gone to Baltika with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom25 Jun 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arseny Filev commits to Baltika 2 for another 4 years.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Konstantin Shiltsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jun 2029
The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Mikhail Oparin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 May 2029
Ilja Rubtsov 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 Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
A row about effort at Baltika 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aymane Mourid was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 May 2029
“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 Baltika 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market14 May 2029
“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.
Market14 May 2029
Baltika 2 have made Mingiyan Beveev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout14 May 2029
Mikhail Oparin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baltika 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 May 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika 2 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad7 May 2029
Ilja Rubtsov 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.
Market7 May 2029
“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.
The dugout7 May 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baltika 2 told Aymane Mourid something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout7 May 2029
“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.
Squad7 May 2029
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Cherkasov commits to Baltika 2 for another 4 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Baltika 2
Andrey Mendel 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Dmitry Begun: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Baltika 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Feb 2029
Andrey Mendel 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 Baltika 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Feb 2029
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Zvezda spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Ilja Petrov, 33, rolls back the years — 7.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Feb 2029
Nobody wants to play Baltika 2 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Feb 2029
Zvezda made Baltika 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baltika 2 told Aymane Mourid something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Maxim Zhordochkin 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
Aymane Mourid knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baltika 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Feb 2029
Ivan Belikov 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 Baltika 2 can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
Andrey Mendel: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baltika 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match17 Feb 2029
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Mark Mokin
22 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Andrey Mendel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Baltika 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aymane Mourid 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 terraces19 Feb 2029
The crowd has taken to Mark Mokin
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.
Market19 Feb 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Baltika 2 have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match17 Feb 2029
Three points for Baltika 2, 1‑0 the final word against Tver in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Dec 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 18 matches without defeat is a foundation Baltika 2 did not have in the autumn.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Baltika 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Aymane Mourid and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Mark Mokin runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Aymane Mourid
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match23 Dec 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
A mark of 4.17 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Andrey Mendel 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Oct 2028
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Baltika 2
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.81, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika 2 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Ivan Belikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Sep 2028
Salyut made Baltika 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces2 Oct 2028
At 22 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Market2 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ivan Belikov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Aug 2028
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika 2 can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Mikhail Oparin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baltika 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Andrey Mendel 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A mark of 7.40, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Mark Mokin knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mark Mokin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad28 Aug 2028
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
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
“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 Baltika 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Jul 2028
Baltika 2 refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Daniil Turischev 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 dugout10 Jul 2028
Yegor Lyubakov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baltika 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Jul 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mikhail Oparin has his answer from Baltika 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market10 Jul 2028
Baltika 2 have let the market know Aymane Mourid can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Mark Mokin has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Mark Mokin keeps the shirt for now, at Baltika 2's convenience rather than his own.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Baltika 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.