Marked for Pavel Khodeev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 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 Spartak Tambov can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Daniil Gurchenko 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 Spartak Tambov now.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Bondar', and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.69 on the card, and the Spartak Tambov support went home talking about one name.
Squad13 Sep 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 Spartak Tambov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Sep 2027
15 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Tambov may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Marked 9.23 — 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Marked 9.18 — 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 145% of everything Spartak Tambov 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 ratings6 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Osinov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Aug 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Spartak Tambov did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 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.
Squad9 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Wages eat 107% of everything Spartak Tambov 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
It needed Daniil Gurchenko to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Rodina M, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Jul 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Spartak Tambov have 8 straight wins of it.
Player ratings2 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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Marked 9.23 — 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Maxim Sergeev 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Petrov, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Alexey Shulgin 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 Spartak Tambov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market19 Jul 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
6 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
As if he never left: Sergei Savinov returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Sergei Savinov is a Spartak Tambov player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market19 Jul 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Valentin Gerasimov is a Spartak Tambov player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Daniil Gurchenko 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 ratings19 Jul 2027
Marked 9.46 — 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrey Bokovoy. 2‑0 against Zenit Penza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer from Waitakere United for Andrey Bondar' 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Mironov and Spartak Tambov agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Andrey Maloletov 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 Jun 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Khodeev signs something — a contract at Spartak Tambov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Daniil Gurchenko
16 goals and a season average of 7.86 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market1 Feb 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 Spartak Tambov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match30 Jan 2027
4 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 9.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Spartak Tambov have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 9.28 — 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
13 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad1 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Maxim Sergeev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartak Tambov.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Daniil Gurchenko
8 goals and a season average of 7.60 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match5 Dec 2026
Strogino made Spartak Tambov work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Dec 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Alexey Shulgin
“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 ratings7 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Spartak Tambov have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 9.04 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
6 goals and a season average of 7.48. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Alexandr Shmarov 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Maxim Levin unhappy with how he is being used
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Maxim Levin has let it be known that he does not like the way Spartak Tambov are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Sep 2026
20 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Sep 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match26 Sep 2026
Metallurg made Spartak Tambov work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Pavel Khodeev
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to KDV Tomsk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartak Tambov and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, Spartak Tambov 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Kuptsov
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Znamya Truda leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Spartak Tambov did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match15 Aug 2026
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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Maxim Sergeev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartak Tambov.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 9.61 — 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market10 Aug 2026
Kuban Holding pay $25.0K, 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Spartak Tambov have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad10 Aug 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.