Marked for Dmitry Savin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexey Skvortsov and Metallurg agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
132% of the income goes out in wages at Metallurg
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.
Squad4 Oct 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Chernyakov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Oct 2027
The name of Maxim Vedeneev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Metallurg
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match25 Sep 2027
The goals have deserted Metallurg
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Metallurg can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad27 Sep 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pakhomov 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
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2027
0‑3 to Strogino, 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Metallurg now.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Kirill Dontsov
“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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market13 Sep 2027
The Dmitry Savin story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dmitry Savin signs something — a contract at Metallurg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dmitry Savin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Metallurg.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 7.69 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Metallurg had the best player on the pitch.
Squad30 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Aug 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
5 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Aug 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Metallurg now.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Chernyakov 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Vladislav Agalakov had Metallurg level again within 2 minutes, and SKA Khabarovsk 2 never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad16 Aug 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; Metallurg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
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.
Match7 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladyslav Hevlych and Metallurg agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Zenit Penza left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Bryan Trujillo 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
94% of the income goes out in wages at Metallurg
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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The name of Maxim Vedeneev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The Metallurg board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladyslav Hevlych and Metallurg agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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 ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Jul 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Agalakov 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 ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Jul 2027
It needed Alexey Skvortsov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Kvant, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad26 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Agalakov and Metallurg agree another 3 years.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fyodor Pugachev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Artyom Ignashevich has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market19 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Prokhor Ershov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artem Ntumba commits to Metallurg for another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kononenko 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
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Chernyakov
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metallurg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Ilnur Badrtdinov 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Agalakov 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
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Chernyakov
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metallurg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Petr Salasin out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 May 2027
Nikita Kononenko 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
104% of the income goes out in wages at Metallurg
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Market
Dmitry Savin linked with a move away
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniil Chernyakov
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metallurg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Metallurg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alexandr Kobzev 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
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 112% of everything Metallurg 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Alexandr Kobzev out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 Feb 2027
Shinnik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Metallurg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages eat 124% of everything Metallurg 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
Chelyabinsk paid $48.0K and Metallurg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Rotor 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nikita Kononenko 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 7.81. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Metallurg, and 0 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Alexandr Danilov: 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.” Metallurg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denis Semin. 3‑1 against Orel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Artem Ntumba 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 122% of everything Metallurg 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Metallurg, another week without a signature from Vladyslav Hevlych.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Metallurg, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 180% of everything Metallurg 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Artem Ntumba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Artem Ntumba 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Bryan Trujillo 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 7.45. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Savva Potapov 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
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Nov 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
177% of the income goes out in wages at Metallurg
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
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Trujillo 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
“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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.35 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Metallurg had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alexandr Kobzev 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
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Salyut left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Kobzev
“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 ratings16 Nov 2026
4.93 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Metallurg
0‑1 against Sokol, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Metallurg
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Metallurg
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Metallurg can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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
225% of the income goes out in wages at Metallurg
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Metallurg, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.06. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bryan Trujillo 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Danilov, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Alexey Skvortsov, 34, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market14 Sep 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 Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Sep 2026
Metallurg cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Maxim Vedeneev 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Strogino made Metallurg work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market14 Sep 2026
Artyom Krasnov is 14, and Metallurg have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Metallurg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Sep 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
Triumph
Market31 Aug 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 Metallurg can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ilnur Badrtdinov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, Metallurg 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Artem Ntumba’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Metallurg.
Match29 Aug 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Arsenal Tula 2 tried to reorganise, Metallurg did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Artem Ntumba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Trujillo 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
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match15 Aug 2026
Metallurg cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Maxim Vedeneev 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 terraces17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Avangard will make the call about Alexandr Burykin this week. Metallurg have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vildan Yermilov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Metallurg.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Metallurg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Petr Salasin 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. Petr Salasin is living that version at Metallurg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match8 Aug 2026
Three points for Metallurg, 1‑0 the final word against Zenit Penza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bryan Trujillo and Metallurg agree another 3 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.98. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
Zvezda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Metallurg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Aug 2026
Nikita Panov 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 Metallurg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexey Skvortsov commits to Metallurg for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Vedeneev 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for Metallurg, 1‑0 the final word against Salyut in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Daniil Grigorjev’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.