Marked for Ivan Timoshenko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Yordy Reyna 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitja Križan 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Julien David has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Rodina have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
189% of the income goes out in wages at Rodina
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leon Musaev, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
70 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad22 Mar 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Artem Maximenko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Yordy Reyna 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Maximenko 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Ivan Timoshenko for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rodina will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 28 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yordy Reyna and Rodina agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Yordy Reyna 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitja Križan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match6 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Rodina against Ural
1‑2 to Ural, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Yordy Reyna gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.59 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
10 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Artem Maximenko 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.
Squad8 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Match6 Feb 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. SKA Khabarovsk came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market8 Feb 2027
A season-long audition: Volga still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Rodina's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rodina can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 28 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market18 Jan 2027
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Shukura for Ivan Timoshenko 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Yordy Reyna 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rodina have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Maximenko 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Rodina
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leo Goglichidze, and the manager let it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Chaika left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Yordy Reyna 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
Artem Maximenko 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 291% of everything Rodina 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joel Valdemarín, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Artem Maximenko takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Artem Maximenko provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Ruslan Fischenko 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 Dec 2026
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Maximenko 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Artem Maximenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rodina.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yordy Reyna, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Mitja Križan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Yordy Reyna yet — 8.78
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.78 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad2 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitja Križan 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 273% of everything Rodina 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to William Kaastrup, and the manager let it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Three points for Rodina, 1‑0 the final word against Torpedo Moscow in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Artem Meschaninov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rodina, another week without a signature from Ruslan Fischenko.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Ural for Denis Tikhonov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leo Goglichidze and Rodina agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Yordy Reyna 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
Artem Maximenko 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Maximenko, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rodina, another week without a signature from Artem Maximenko.
Market3 Aug 2026
Arshak Koryan is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rodina has been clear about where Arshak Koryan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Chelyabinsk leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.