Marked for Igor Bugaenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The deal with Torpedo Miass died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Market15 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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 targets15 Feb 2027
Orel asked and Tver 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Orel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Khmelevskoy 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Dmitry Ivanov 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 Dmitry Ivanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Orel
27 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Arsentjev
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Znamya Truda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Orel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The deal with Tyumen 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Feb 2027
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Orel had all but put away. Ryazan will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrey Yakushin
“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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 7.53 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Orel had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
24 matches without a win for Orel
The run now stands at 24, and the questions being asked around Orel are no longer polite ones.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Maksim Anisimov 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Orel pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 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 Orel will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match9 Jan 2027
Point won or two lost for Orel?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Dinamo St Petersburg? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Orel's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Zenit Penza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match16 Nov 2026
Halfway: Orel sit in position 12
7 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
SKA Khabarovsk 2 next, and one man in the Orel dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Igor Bugaenko signs something — a contract at Orel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Orel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlad Zimin 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 dugout19 Oct 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Bogdan Borisov
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Igor Bugaenko signs something — a contract at Orel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Orel's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Orel
Vadim Averkiev 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Spartak Tambov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The game went through Emrakh Nabatov — 6.78
Marked 6.78 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Radomir Vinogradov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Igor Bugaenko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Orel needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.