Marked for Said Aliev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Sep 2029
9 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.
Market17 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shodiyor Shodiboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rotor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
Whatever happens, Rotor do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Rotor had all but put away. Sochi will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
97% of the income goes out in wages at Rotor
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.
Match15 Sep 2029
Honours even between Rotor and Sochi
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Redondo and Rotor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Aug 2029
Rotor say no — this time
The offer from Krasnodar for James Berry was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Said Aliev takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Market27 Aug 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Match25 Aug 2029
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rotor and Neftekhimik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match25 Aug 2029
Three points for Rotor, 4‑2 the final word against Neftekhimik in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ruslan Slepuzhnikov has, at Rotor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Ninety minutes of Said Aliev at his very best
Marked 9.51. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rotor.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alexandr Puzach has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Rotor have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Aug 2029
Ilja Safronov 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 Rotor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Aug 2029
32 days out for Leonel Moya after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rotor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market6 Aug 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad6 Aug 2029
7 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
The name of Alexandr Korotkov has come up in conversations Rotor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jack Lee has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A move Mattia Tavanti would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mattia Tavanti is living that version at Rotor, and it tends to show in the first month.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Jul 2029
39 days out for Leonel Moya after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rotor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Stepan Pravkin has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Match28 Jul 2029
Three points for Rotor, 1‑0 the final word against Chaika in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Market30 Jul 2029
Murom are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Rotor will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Rotor support went home talking about one name.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Leonel Moya breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Legion waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rotor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The deal with Leones 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guidonia Montecelio have kept their man, and Rotor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
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Boardroom25 Jun 2029
Belts tighten at Rotor
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Ilja Safronov 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 Ilja Safronov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 May 2029
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rotor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 May 2029
“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.
Market21 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rotor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2029
Tempers go at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Ilja Safronov 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 dugout21 May 2029
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The dugout21 May 2029
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Market21 May 2029
Said Aliev linked with a move away
The name of Said Aliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rotor say nothing, which says plenty.
Market21 May 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rotor, another week without a signature from Nikita Dronov.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Apr 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market23 Apr 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 Rotor can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rotor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rotor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Safronov 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
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Squad23 Apr 2029
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Yegor Gurenko, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
A promise honoured at Rotor
Something was said to Ilja Rodionov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Mar 2029
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rotor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rotor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Mar 2029
Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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.
Market26 Mar 2029
Said Aliev linked with a move away
The name of Said Aliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rotor say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Mar 2029
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rotor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Mar 2029
The season ends: position 9 for Rotor
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 45 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market5 Mar 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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Said Aliev commits to Rotor for another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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Squad5 Mar 2029
Bruno Paulo wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Rotor know now that the thought has arrived.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
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 dugout5 Mar 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Feb 2029
4‑1, and Said Aliev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rotor tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rotor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The match ball belongs to Said Aliev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
The terraces12 Feb 2029
Rotor sell a favourite for $680.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Nikolay Poyarkov was one of the reasons people came, and $680.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market12 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Said Aliev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.57. 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 terraces12 Feb 2029
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Yegor Danilkin, 33, rolls back the years — 7.99
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market22 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Khubulov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rotor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
A 1‑0 win over Chelyabinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shodiyor Shodiboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
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.” Radomir Ushakov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marat Bogdaev, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Jan 2029
At 16 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Chagrov 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 Jan 2029
“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.
Match13 Jan 2029
Three points for Rotor, 1‑0 the final word against Yenisey in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Radomir Ushakov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Ilja Rodionov 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 Ilja Rodionov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A Rotor teenager takes the young player award
Innokentiy Polivanov is 16, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Dec 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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rotor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rotor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Safronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Chagrov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match23 Dec 2028
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Rotor had all but put away. Arsenal Tula will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad18 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rotor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Ilja Safronov 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.
Market18 Dec 2028
One of our own: Stepan Fokin joins the Rotor first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stepan Fokin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market18 Dec 2028
One of our own: Alexei Kotov joins the Rotor first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexei Kotov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market18 Dec 2028
One of our own: Pavel Ragulin joins the Rotor first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pavel Ragulin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market18 Dec 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pyotr Kerzhakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Rotor's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rotor has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rotor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Chagrov 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 dugout4 Dec 2028
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Match2 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Spartak Kostroma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
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 0‑1 Radomir Ushakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
A promise honoured at Rotor
Something was said to Pavel Gorelov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Nov 2028
Rotor bow out of the cup
Sochi go through and Rotor go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market27 Nov 2028
“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.
Match25 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Rotor's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rotor has to find a result from somewhere.
Market27 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rotor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Immanuel Teofilo arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Immanuel Teofilo has, at Rotor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Safronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Said Aliev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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
Crisis
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market13 Nov 2028
Bruno Paulo 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 Rotor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Nov 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Chagrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Nov 2028
Said Aliev scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Chaika, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stepan Pravkin, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
89% of the income goes out in wages at Rotor
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Oct 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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Stepan Pravkin: 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.” Rotor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Oct 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rotor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Chagrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“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 dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Radomir Ushakov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Rotor dressing room was either.
Match28 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Torpedo Moscow will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2028
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Sep 2028
Chelyabinsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“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; Rotor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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 ratings25 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Stepan Pravkin 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 Stepan Pravkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Rotor
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Sep 2028
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.
Market18 Sep 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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Sep 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match16 Sep 2028
Yenisey made Rotor work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces18 Sep 2028
At 21 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 dugout18 Sep 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2028
“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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Rotor
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.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Rotor close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Alexandr Troshechkin 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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Rotor asked and Voluntari 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Stepan Pravkin
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Tsipushtanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the Rotor support went home talking about one name.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Wages swallow 91% of the Rotor 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jul 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 Rotor can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The deal with Zenit 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.
Squad31 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Dmitry Kiselev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Rotor asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Mikhail Tsipushtanov 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Pavel Gorelov has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Match29 Jul 2028
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Jul 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Ufa, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yefim Kolobov is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match22 Jul 2028
The drought breaks for Rotor
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ufa were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market24 Jul 2028
Rostov pay $210.0K, 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Rotor asked and Aris Thessaloniki said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
Nikita Chagrov damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rotor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Jun 2028
Rodina M come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rotor did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rotor have done the hard part with Neftekhimik, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ilja Safronov 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 targets26 Jun 2028
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 dugout26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Simonyan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Nikita Chagrov damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrey Khityaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rotor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Cibalia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Sokolov has agreed terms with Dinamo Vologda for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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 Jun 2028
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Rotor will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Zenit: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jun 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Kleschenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 May 2028
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rotor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market22 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrey Khityaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rotor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 May 2028
Diogo puts it in writing
“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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Safronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Safronov, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 2028
“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; Rotor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout22 May 2028
Nikita Chagrov 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 Rotor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 May 2028
The Said Aliev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Said Aliev signs something — a contract at Rotor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
Nikita Chagrov damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market8 May 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 Rotor can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 May 2028
Sergey Prokofjev: 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.” Rotor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 May 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Said Aliev, and the manager let it.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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.
Market8 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rotor, another week without a signature from Artem Simonyan.
The dugout8 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rotor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout8 May 2028
Nikolay Poyarkov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rotor 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rotor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout1 May 2028
Said Aliev: 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.” Rotor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market1 May 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 Rotor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 May 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Wages swallow 88% of the Rotor 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.
Squad1 May 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Rotor has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rotor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikita Chagrov
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rotor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rotor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The Said Aliev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Said Aliev signs something — a contract at Rotor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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 Khubulov is on it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Pavel Gorelov 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 Pavel Gorelov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nikolay Poyarkov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rotor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rotor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“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.
Market17 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ilja Safronov signs something — a contract at Rotor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rotor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Rodionov, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Nikita Chagrov 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 Rotor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Mar 2028
The Said Aliev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Said Aliev signs something — a contract at Rotor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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 Khubulov is on it.
Market27 Mar 2028
Rotor have made Bruno Paulo available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad27 Mar 2028
The training reports on Ilja Safronov are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“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.
Transfer targets13 Mar 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Mar 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shodiyor Shodiboyev 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 Mar 2028
Said Aliev 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 Said Aliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Nikolay Poyarkov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rotor 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
The name of Alexandr Troshechkin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rotor say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Ilja Rodionov has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Rotor that is a harder question to answer.
Market13 Mar 2028
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Rotor money.
In brief
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Squad
The penny has dropped for Nikita Dronov
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Rotor
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The dugout
Diogo keeps his manager's vote
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jan 2028
Rotor say no — this time
The offer from Bunyodkor for Ilja Safronov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Chelyabinsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Jan 2028
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad24 Jan 2028
6 new faces, and Rotor 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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shodiyor Shodiboyev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jan 2028
Rotor say no — this time
The offer from Bunyodkor for Said Aliev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MFK Skalica waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rotor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market17 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad17 Jan 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A move Yefim Kolobov would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yefim Kolobov is living that version at Rotor, and it tends to show in the first month.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
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.
Match15 Jan 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Said Aliev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rotor.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Artem Simonyan 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 ratings17 Jan 2028
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Jan 2028
Rotor say no — this time
The offer from Spartak 1918 for Joey Houweling was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A move Dmitry Kiselev would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dmitry Kiselev is living that version at Rotor, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match8 Jan 2028
The goals have deserted Rotor
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rotor can tell you which week it ends in.
Match8 Jan 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Khityaev, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Paulo 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rotor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market3 Jan 2028
Bruno Paulo 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 Rotor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Alexandr Khubulov has come up in conversations Rotor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abu-Said Eldarushev, and the manager let it.
Match1 Jan 2028
Fakel take the points off Rotor
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Poyarkov 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
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Squad
Diogo slips down the pecking order
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The dugout
Said Aliev asks for a word with the manager
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Looking ahead
A test against the best for Rotor
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Rotor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Guallama 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 ratings27 Dec 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
102% of the income goes out in wages at Rotor
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 dugout27 Dec 2027
“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 dugout27 Dec 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rotor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match25 Dec 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Arsenal Tula came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Nikolay Poyarkov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rotor 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.