Marked for Kirill Dontsov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 2028
Andrey Rylach 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 Dinamo Brest can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Brest people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
$200.0K settles it between the clubs for Mateush Montevka
Neman have accepted the money. What Dinamo Brest do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market3 Jul 2028
The offer from Naftan for Vladislav Yatskevich 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 dugout3 Jul 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 targets3 Jul 2028
The deal with Nomme Kalju 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Dinamo Brest training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Danilin 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 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.
Match1 Jul 2028
0‑2 to Baranovichi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad30 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match28 Aug 2027
Metallurg make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Metallurg have 4 straight wins of it.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metallurg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The deal with Sokol 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chaika have kept their man, and Metallurg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
Arsenal Tula 2 made Metallurg work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Angusht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Metallurg is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metallurg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KDV Tomsk have kept their man, and Metallurg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 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.
The dugout5 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Dinamo St Petersburg have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Metallurg sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rudolf Obal is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 137% of the Metallurg income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Kobzev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metallurg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Ilnur Badrtdinov 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Damian Szuprytowski 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Metallurg know it.
The dugout10 May 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.
The dugout10 May 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 Metallurg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
Rudolf Obal in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Metallurg will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout3 May 2027
Kirill Dontsov 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 Kirill Dontsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Alexey Skvortsov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Apr 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Andriyanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metallurg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad12 Apr 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Kokoev, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Metallurg have let the market know Kirill Dontsov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 176% 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Kobzev, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Metallurg 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
Alexandr Burykin returns from a loan that gave him nothing
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Kirill Dontsov 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 Metallurg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Mar 2027
The name of Ilnur Badrtdinov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metallurg say nothing, which says plenty.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Rudolf Obal
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Metallurg would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metallurg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The step up is real for Rudolf Obal
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Metallurg no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Metallurg will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Ilnur Badrtdinov 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Vedeneev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody at Metallurg saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Match9 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Alexey Skvortsov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Metallurg.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
The afternoon belonged to Denis Semin
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Torpedo Miass to sit and watch. I want to come back to Metallurg and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Nov 2026
24 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Dmitry Pakhomov pops up at the right end — 7.67
7.67, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Damian Szuprytowski commits to Metallurg for another 1 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Damian Szuprytowski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 239% 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Pakhomov. 1‑0 against Rotor 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Dontsov, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Metallurg will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Match24 Oct 2026
Metallurg and Orel cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Orel came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kirill Dontsov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Metallurg needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A season on the outside for Rudolf Obal
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Metallurg has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Metallurg did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Alexandr Kobzev 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.
Squad28 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Miroslav Alexandrov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Znamya Truda will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nobody at Metallurg is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The dugout28 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.