Marked for Pavel Khodeev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ivan Bzikadze
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Tambov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Tambov may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Murad Omarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shmarov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pyotr Zubov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexandr Mironov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartak Tambov.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Spartak Tambov man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Airat Khabibulin was the best thing in any of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ivan Bzikadze
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Tambov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Tambov they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Murad Omarov 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
554% of the income goes out in wages at Spartak Tambov
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Khodeev
“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 ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marat Bogdaev 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Spartak Tambov are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match3 Oct 2026
It needed Alexey Shulgin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Metallurg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Tambov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Tambov is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Murad Omarov 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Orel left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Bokovoy
“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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alexandr Shmarov 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
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Spartak Tambov told Anton Penchelyuzov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Tambov have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Murad Omarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Kuptsov, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Pyotr Zubov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shmarov 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Alexandr Shmarov dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Pavel Khodeev
Nobody at Spartak Tambov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniil Gurchenko and Spartak Tambov agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Murad Omarov 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Dinamo Bryansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marat Bogdaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Aug 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
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 Gurchenko’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.