Marked for Ilja Gorbashov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Apr 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
This is not rotation. Dawid Polkowski has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Apr 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Shulzhevskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Vitaly Zhokhov
“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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Vadim Churilov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Dawid Polkowski 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Gorbashov, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Vadim Churilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout5 Apr 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Apr 2027
Uralets-TS have let the market know Rayat Sharafutdinov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Mar 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
This is not rotation. Dawid Polkowski has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dawid Polkowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Shabolin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Ilja Gorbashov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Andriy Vyskrebentsev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market29 Mar 2027
Uralets-TS have made Maxim Gorin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Uralets-TS can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Vadim Churilov 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
$4.0K on the table at Tyumen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dawid Polkowski 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vadim Churilov is on it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ilja Gorbashov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market8 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dawid Polkowski’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market8 Feb 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Strogino had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market1 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
This is not rotation. Dawid Polkowski has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Dawid Polkowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nikolay Shulzhevskiy 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Chelyabinsk 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Moskovets, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Uralets-TS pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad25 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 210% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitaly Zhokhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Gorbashov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A mark of 7.88, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.” Fyodor Ignatov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Dawid Polkowski 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Yegor Pozdnyakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Kirill Matsak
“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 dugout18 Jan 2027
A promise honoured at Uralets-TS
Something was said to Yegor Zubarev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Artem Shabolin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market18 Jan 2027
Uralets-TS have made Dawid Polkowski available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Maxim Tarasov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
16 starts now, an average of 6.74, and the team sheet at Strogino has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dawid Polkowski 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
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Shabolin 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
1‑2 to Amkar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fyodor Ignatov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Ilja Gorbashov 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Nobody at Uralets-TS will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Uralets-TS will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Uralets-TS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Polkowski 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
270% of the income goes out in wages at Uralets-TS
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Zubarev, and the manager let it.
Match26 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and KDV Tomsk spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Uralets-TS right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Vadim Churilov 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dawid Polkowski 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 terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandr Burykin 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Burykin. 1‑0 against KDV Tomsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Maxim Gorin 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
7.38, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Uralets-TS had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dawid Polkowski 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Three points for Uralets-TS, 1‑0 the final word against Orenburg 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Kirill Matsak
“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 ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Uralets-TS had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Fyodor Ignatov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Ilja Gorbashov 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dawid Polkowski’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uralets-TS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match7 Nov 2026
Artem Shabolin wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Artem Shabolin found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Khimik went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Vadim Churilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The crowd has taken to Mark Isong
At 20 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Khimik. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Uralets-TS, 1‑0 the final word against Khimik in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ilja Gorbashov
“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.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.67 on the card, and the Uralets-TS support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Vadim Churilov 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 Sep 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Polkowski 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Uralets-TS
18 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.
The dugout28 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 Fyodor Ignatov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ilja Gorbashov
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Arsen Kabolov 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 Arsen Kabolov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Vadim Churilov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Polkowski 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 terraces21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Uralets-TS, 2‑0 the final word against Rubin 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Gorin, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fyodor Ignatov on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ilja Gorbashov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 30 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Uralets-TS until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vadim Churilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Krylya Sovetov 2 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Shulzhevskiy 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Maxim Moskovets
“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.
Market14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fyodor Ignatov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 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.