Marked for Vladlen Babaev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Tyumen
Vitaly Shitov 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Ivan Pyatkin gets it from the manager
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Alexandr Bem gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexandr Bem is on it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Vladlen Babaev 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 Tyumen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Gleb Zakharov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vitaly Shitov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 Dec 2026
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Tyumen could get for him.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
15 starts and an average of 6.74. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mikhail Petrov is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Dec 2026
Nobody above Tyumen
First, on 26 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Tyumen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Tyumen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaly Shitov 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
Dinamo Moscow 2 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitaly Shitov
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Tyumen hit back inside 4 minutes
Dinamo Moscow 2 held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Tyumen answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Tyumen
Krystian Mucha 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Artem Anoshin slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Artem Anoshin is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 Tyumen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Tyumen
Alexandr Bem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
395% of the income goes out in wages at Tyumen
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Alexandr Bem gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Damir Talikin 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.53 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Tyumen had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Vitaly Shitov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tyumen 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 dugout30 Nov 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.” Nazar Kotov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Nov 2026
The cup run ends for Tyumen
0‑6 against Zenit, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
A cup hiding at Zenit leaves Tyumen explaining themselves
0-6, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Tyumen
Alexandr Bem 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.
Match18 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tyumen and Zenit in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for Tyumen, 2‑1 the final word against Volgar in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Vladlen Babaev
“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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Maxim Dmitriev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Tyumen
Alexandr Bem 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Tyumen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitaly Shitov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Petrov, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Alexandr Bem gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexandr Bem is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Maxim Dmitriev 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vladlen Babaev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tyumen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikita Yanovich signs something — a contract at Tyumen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
11 starts and a season average of 6.75. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market2 Nov 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ivan Zazvonkin takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Zazvonkin provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Tyumen — 7.87
1 for Pavel Shakuro, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Tyumen 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 3‑1 win over Textilschik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Vladlen Babaev 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
395% of the income goes out in wages at Tyumen
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
In brief
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The terraces
One of their own: Ivan Zazvonkin
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Match
Another one collected away from home
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Market
No place for Ivan Pyatkin in the plan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Oct 2026
Tyumen refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 16 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tyumen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Tyumen — 7.97
1 for Damir Talikin, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Tyumen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladlen Babaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Damir Talikin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tyumen.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Tyumen
Krystian Mucha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Nazar Kotov could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tyumen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Tomas Rukas goes up and wins it — 7.92
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Tyumen
Vitaly Shitov 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
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match17 Oct 2026
Sibir made Tyumen work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Vitaly Shitov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout19 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Tyumen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damir Talikin 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Oct 2026
Tyumen sink to position 10
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tyumen can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alexandr Bem 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 Tyumen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Vladlen Babaev 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 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.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Tyumen counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Tyumen now.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Alexandr Bem has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tyumen 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Tyumen
Something was said to Dmitry Begun and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Yanovich’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Tyumen march on in the cup
Krasnodar are out and Tyumen go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Tyumen
Alexandr Bem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Tyumen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladlen Babaev 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
520% of the income goes out in wages at Tyumen
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kirill Boyarskikh has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Ivan Pyatkin gets it from the manager
“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.
Match5 Oct 2026
The half-term report on Tyumen
Position 10, 10 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Sep 2026
Tyumen are in real trouble now
Position 9, 6 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 12 in, 8 out at Tyumen
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tyumen can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftekhimik have kept their man, and Tyumen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikita Yanovich
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Tyumen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Shakuro 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match12 Sep 2026
Tyumen rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Alania had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Tyumen
Krystian Mucha 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Tyumen
0‑3 against Volgar, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Tyumen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
Sochi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Tyumen did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metallurg have kept their man, and Tyumen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 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 Tyumen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
200 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Alexandr Bem beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 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 0‑3 Nazar Kotov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
10 seasons and 183 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Damir Talikin delivers — 7.52
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Damir Talikin scored, was marked 7.52, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladlen Babaev and Tyumen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Tyumen
Alexandr Bem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Sergey Zuikov has come up in conversations Tyumen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Tyumen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Chudin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Honours even between Tyumen and Sibir
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.