Marked for Aidyn Mirzoev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Angusht
Aliskhan Akhilgov 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Sharip Yusupov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Angusht is pretending otherwise.
Match20 Nov 2027
0‑1 to Astrakhan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Angusht
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stepan Obryvkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aidyn Mirzoev, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Angusht told Matviy Huihanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Angusht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Angusht's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Angusht has to find a result from somewhere.
Match23 Oct 2027
0‑4 to Rubin Yalta, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market25 Oct 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 Angusht can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Oct 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Angusht
Matviy Huihanov 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Sharip Yusupov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Angusht is pretending otherwise.
Match23 Oct 2027
The goals have deserted Angusht
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Angusht can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Angusht
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kukanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aidyn Mirzoev, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Angusht
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Vadim Bogdanov runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 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 Angusht can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Jul 2027
6 matches without a win for Angusht
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Angusht are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Timofey Kashitsyn, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market26 Jul 2027
Rashid Yevloev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angusht they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Matviy Huihanov 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 targets26 Jul 2027
$6.0K was the most the club would pay and Amkar were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Match24 Jul 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Ilja Vorotnikov 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
Crisis
Market28 Jun 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 Angusht can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Angusht have gone to Nosta 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Angusht are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Taufany Muslihuddin 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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Vadim Bogdanov 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 Vadim Bogdanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Angusht will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market28 Jun 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Angusht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market28 Jun 2027
Angusht have let the market know Matviy Huihanov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Angusht
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Angusht
Vladimir Zadiraka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Iljas Muminov 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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Vorotnikov
“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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Angusht counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Angusht now.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nikita Rozhkov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Angusht 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 dugout24 May 2027
Stepan Obryvkov 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.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Wiktor Benedyktowicz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Angusht say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Angusht. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Angusht board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad17 May 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 Angusht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages swallow 157% of the Angusht 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 dugout17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Angusht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stepan Obryvkov 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Radik Mosoyan and Angusht agree another 3 years.
The dugout17 May 2027
Aidyn Mirzoev 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 Angusht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Angusht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market17 May 2027
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Angusht could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Vladimir Zadiraka 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Iljas Muminov 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 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadim Bogdanov, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Radik Mosoyan and Angusht agree another 3 years.
Market10 May 2027
“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 dugout10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Angusht will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout10 May 2027
Rashid Yevloev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Angusht 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.
Market10 May 2027
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Angusht money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Angusht has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad22 Mar 2027
16 days out for Matviy Huihanov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Angusht will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Mar 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 Angusht can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Angusht's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Angusht has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Angusht
Vladimir Zadiraka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Angusht
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iljas Muminov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 223% of everything Angusht earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match20 Mar 2027
Sochi 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
30 days out for Matviy Huihanov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Angusht will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Ruslan Karpov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Angusht can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Angusht
Matviy Huihanov 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Angusht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iljas Muminov 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Sevastopol left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wiktor Benedyktowicz, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ruslan Karpov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
94 days out for Matviy Huihanov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Angusht will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Angusht
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 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 Angusht can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Angusht's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Angusht has to find a result from somewhere.
Match2 Jan 2027
Angusht cannot find the net
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad4 Jan 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 Angusht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Angusht
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iljas Muminov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Jan 2027
Kyzyltash left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
Ilja Vorotnikov wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Ilja Vorotnikov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Astrakhan went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matviy Huihanov 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
Three points for Angusht, 1‑0 the final word against Astrakhan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aidyn Mirzoev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.74, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ruslan Karpov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Angusht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tukhan Akhilgov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Angusht have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Angusht's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Angusht has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Angusht
Vladimir Zadiraka 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Angusht
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Angusht can tell you which week it ends in.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Rubin Yalta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Vadim Bogdanov
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ruslan Karpov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Angusht told Aidyn Mirzoev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rodina is saying, and nobody at Angusht is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Angusht
Vladimir Zadiraka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 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 dugout7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Aman Babakhanov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
18 new faces, and Angusht are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market7 Sep 2026
Angusht have let the market know Gelani Khashtyrov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Vadim Bogdanov 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.