Marked for Maxim Khramtsov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rotor 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market8 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrey Khityaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rotor 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Rotor 2
Andrey Khityaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Gorelov
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Rotor 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Pogudin 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
The plan did not have a place for Pavel Gorelov
Nobody at Rotor 2 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
Stepan Pravkin wants a proper job in this side
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Stepan Pravkin has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Rotor 2 know, and have known for weeks.
Market8 Mar 2027
Rotor 2 spent the window trying to move Rasul Bidjilov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 5. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Luki-Energiya waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rotor 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market1 Mar 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Rotor 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Gorelov 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Andrey Khityaev 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
No place for Pavel Gorelov on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Rotor 2 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout1 Mar 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Yegor Tarin
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Feb 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rotor have done the hard part with Belgrano, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market22 Feb 2027
Dinamo Moscow paid $1.4M and Rotor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor
Irakly Manelov 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rotor have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Artem Simonyan 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Korotkov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
92% of the income goes out in wages at Rotor
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 dugout22 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 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 Rotor 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Pavel Gorelov 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Maxim Khramtsov has come up in conversations Rotor 2 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market15 Feb 2027
Spartak Tambov are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Rotor 2 will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Rotor 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Pogudin 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 dugout15 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rotor 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Vladimir Sugrobov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match30 Jan 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Daniil Grada scored in the 87th minute, Metallurg had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Rotor 2 took the lot.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Daniil Grada takes the afternoon — 8.78
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Grada provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Rotor 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Rotor 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Gorelov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Jan 2027
A 2‑1 win over Metallurg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Adrian Platon 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.
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 Rotor 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Stepan Pravkin
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Maxim Khramtsov: 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.” Rotor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match9 Jan 2027
7 goals as Rotor and Rodina go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Rotor and Rodina, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Daniil Marugin 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kirill Zimin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Spartak Tambov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rotor 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Plotnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Maxim Khramtsov 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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 0‑1 Evgeny Ostrovsky left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Sugrobov, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at Rotor 2
Something was said to Yegor Tarin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rotor 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market21 Dec 2026
Rotor 2 have made Timofey Falchenko available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 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 Rotor 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Pavel Gorelov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Maxim Khramtsov 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.
The terraces26 Oct 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Alexey Pogudin
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Rotor 2
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.46. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑5 by Dinamo Bryansk, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 7.67 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rotor 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 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 Rotor 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Rotor 2 and Dinamo Bryansk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Rotor 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Pogudin 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 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Falchenko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Doors closed at Rotor 2
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Evgeny Ostrovsky to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ural waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rotor 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Sep 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 Rotor 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Rotor 2
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Rotor 2 are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Rotor 2
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Rotor 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Gorelov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 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 Rotor 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Gorelov, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Zenit Penza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Sep 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 0‑1 Evgeny Ostrovsky left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rotor
Nikita Chagrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Rotor 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Rotor have made the call to Partizan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
7.37, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rotor had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ilja Safronov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ilja Safronov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rotor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
Rotor taken apart
0‑3 to Shinnik, 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with All Boys, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 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 Rotor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Artem Simonyan 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Rotor
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Panathinaikos 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Rotor 2 say no — this time
The offer from Nart for Nikita Plotnikov 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rotor 2
Adrian Platon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Rotor 2, 1‑0 the final word against Kvant in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Evgeny Ostrovsky, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Maxim Maltsev 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 Rotor 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.