It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Algarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Tomás Silva is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Naumov signs something — a contract at Botev Plovdiv or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Botev Plovdiv will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Botev Plovdiv have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Botev Plovdiv. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botev Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botev Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mascote 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Algarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Botev Plovdiv can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Botev Plovdiv, another week without a signature from Tomás Silva.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Botev Plovdiv, and 4 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botev Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botev Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Mascote 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Todor Nedelev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Botev Plovdiv, another week without a signature from Tomás Silva.
Mascote 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Todor Nedelev 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.
11 clean sheets from 17 appearances at ETO Győr. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad13 Mar 2028
16 new faces, and Botev Plovdiv 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botev Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Montana is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Todor Nedelev 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Botev Plovdiv pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Botev Plovdiv had all but put away. Spartak 1918 will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The offer from CSKA Sofia for Tomás Silva 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marko Bugarin has, at Botev Plovdiv, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Botev Plovdiv asked and CSKA Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Bjelovar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladimir Milanov. The answer from Botev Plovdiv has not changed — yet.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Botev Plovdiv, and 4 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Botev Plovdiv has been clear about where Simeon Petrov stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Kostroma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nart waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Kostroma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Anatoly Nemchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Kostroma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Spartak Kostroma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Spartak Kostroma know which stage they are at.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Kostroma have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Kostroma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volga is saying, and nobody at Spartak Kostroma is enjoying the guessing.
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 Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Tyumen had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nart waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Kostroma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Kostroma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Spartak Kostroma know it.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Saus 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.
Spartak Kostroma asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Spartak Kostroma has been clear about where Nikolay Tarasov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Kostroma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Spartak Kostroma are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Saus 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Spartak Kostroma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartak Kostroma people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Pantelić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochi have kept their man, and Spartak Kostroma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody at Spartak Kostroma saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Volna will make the call about Denis Zhilmostnykh this week. Spartak Kostroma have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at Spartak Kostroma 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Kostroma have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Kostroma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Demchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Kostroma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nader Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Spartak Kostroma asked and Rubin Yalta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Spartak Moscow 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.
“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 Kostroma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denis Terekhov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Kostroma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nader Mohammadi 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.
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 Kirill Chursin is on it.
“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 Kostroma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Spartak Kostroma. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Kostroma, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Kostroma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Kostroma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Osipov 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.
“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 Kostroma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Spartak Kostroma 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Kostroma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Spartak Kostroma know it.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nader Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at Spartak Kostroma 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgy Uridia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Kostroma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amur Kalmykov 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 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Spartak Kostroma. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartak Kostroma people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Denis Bokov did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgy Uridia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Kostroma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Pantelić 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.
Spartak Kostroma asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 21 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.
In brief
Player ratingsĐorđe Pantelić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kolomna waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Kostroma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Kostroma can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Kostroma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nikolay Tarasov scored, was marked 7.13, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Spartak Kostroma are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Kostroma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Kostroma can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Spartak Kostroma asked and Sibir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rostislav Plyushkin after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Elion Jashari 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.
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
At 22 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.” Rostislav Plyushkin kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
SquadWords at Spartak Kostroma training over how hard people work
The dugoutMarko Bugarin asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Kostroma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
He is 22 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.
Marked 7.38 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Spartak Kostroma had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rostislav Plyushkin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Spartak Kostroma dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Bugarin knocks on the manager’s door
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Rostislav Plyushkin to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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 Alexandr Chupaev is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.30 for the rest of it.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Pantelić 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.
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.
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 Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 6, 24 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nelson Seguel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Spartak Kostroma 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Spartak Kostroma know it.
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Pantelić 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nikita Demchenko has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nobody at Spartak Kostroma 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Kostroma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Spartak Kostroma know it.
Amur Kalmykov 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 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.
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.
At 22 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.
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 Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Pantelić 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sergey Bugriev has his answer from Spartak Kostroma; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Demchenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A side in position 11 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Beaten 0‑3 by Ufa, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Nikita Supranovich 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.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marko Bugarin has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nelson Seguel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.