Marked for Vladislav Samko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for German Onugkha
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Rodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastián Arce was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Artem Sokol and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
195% 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match23 Jan 2027
Late, late show earns Rodina a point
Minute 88, against Fakel, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match23 Jan 2027
Honours even between Rodina and Fakel
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for German Onugkha
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody wins at Rodina
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Arce 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kerfala Cissoko. 1‑0 against KAMAZ, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Dec 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Dec 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.64. 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 dugout7 Dec 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.” Nikolai Kabanov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
133 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Sep 2026
Rodina march on in the cup
Sibir are out and Rodina go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sebastián Arce 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
Words exchanged at Rodina
Stanislav Bessmertny 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 613% of the Rodina income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The terraces5 Oct 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.
The dugout5 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Vladislav Samko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
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Player ratings
Both jobs done by Mikhail Maltsev — 7.89
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Match
Rodina share the spoils with Ufa
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Rodina
A 2‑5 beating by Fakel was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and German Onugkha takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. German Onugkha provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Rodina 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
German Onugkha among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, German Onugkha on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rodina and Fakel.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sebastián Arce 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina
Dmitry Tananeev 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 dugout14 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Rodina
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 dugout14 Sep 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 2‑5 defeat, delivered by Nikolai Kabanov to a room that had heard them before.