81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Timur Pukhov 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.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi 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 Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baranovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Baranovichi.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasiliy Vasilenko 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.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramazan Ibragimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
227% of the income goes out in wages at Baranovichi
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.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Timur Pukhov 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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi 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 Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Baranovichi has been clear about where Denis Shpakovskiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Baranovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Ryabykh 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The words a physio says slowly. 125 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
312% of the income goes out in wages at Baranovichi
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Balbukh 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Timur Pukhov 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 words a physio says slowly. 139 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A mark of 9.03 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mikalai Laptev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 146 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Timur Pukhov 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Halil Bağcı, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Vadim Balbukh 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The words a physio says slowly. 153 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ramazan Ibragimov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Baranovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Timur Pukhov 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 phone has started ringing about Fedor Lebedev again, and this time the name on the line is Slonim. Baranovichi are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadBendrix Parra falls out with a teammate over standards
Bendrix Parra 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.
The offer from Bukhara for Aldiiar Ältaev 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
“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; Baranovichi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bendrix Parra 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
330% of the income goes out in wages at Baranovichi
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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Timur Pukhov 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.
He is 19, and nobody at Baranovichi signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Freire 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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Artem Petrenko's mistake
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi 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 Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi 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.
“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 Baranovichi know it.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladimir Fedotov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Baranovichi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baranovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Timur Pukhov 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Baranovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freire 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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Petrenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Timur Pukhov 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.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Baranovichi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
223% of the income goes out in wages at Baranovichi
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi 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.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Baranovichi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Timur Pukhov 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.
In brief
SquadFreire falls out with a teammate over standards
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baranovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Karpenya has agreed terms with Torpedo-BelAZ for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freire 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.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Petrenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Timur Pukhov 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.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baranovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
181% of the income goes out in wages at Baranovichi
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.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Baranovichi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Matvey Svidinskiy has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvey Svidinskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Volna Pinsk for Aldiiar Ältaev 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi 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.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Artem Petrenko's mistake
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Petrenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Egor Lapun has agreed terms with Torpedo-BelAZ for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vadim Balbukh 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baranovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Artem Petrenko has agreed terms with Dinamo Minsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denis Shpakovskiy and Baranovichi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Baranovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Balbukh 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 194% of everything Baranovichi earn
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He is going to Minsk, the club has $48.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baranovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Shapko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baranovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Stanislav Kendysh has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
148 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baranovichi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Martin Artyukh will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Baranovichi escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Baranovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baranovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bastián Morales has just signed for Baranovichi, and for once the answer mattered.
Marked 8.84 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Timur Pukhov 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ramazan Ibragimov has just signed for Baranovichi, and for once the answer mattered.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Rodion Kukhley has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Baranovichi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bendrix Parra 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 name of Semen Penchuk has come up in conversations Baranovichi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.