It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; SKA Khabarovsk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Kozhemyakin 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
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 Lukáš Ambros is on it.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Adalberto has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikhail Gorelishvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nichita Moțpan 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 Kamran Aliev 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 Jordi Tur is on it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SKA Khabarovsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutArshak Koryan has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Bragin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
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 Dimitrije Stevanović is on it.
In brief
The dugoutNichita Moțpan asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Matvey Polunin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
Nichita Moțpan 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Matvey Polunin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tver waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Nichita Moțpan 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 Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevastopol have kept their man, and SKA Khabarovsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jordi Tur will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 22 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Lukáš Ambros 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 Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can tell you which week it ends in.
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 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacobo Alcalde. 1‑0 against Chernomorets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.68 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, SKA Khabarovsk had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 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.” Matvey Polunin, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutAdalberto asks for a word with the manager
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, 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.” SKA Khabarovsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jordi Tur 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.
Nichita Moțpan 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Kozhemyakin 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. SKA Khabarovsk know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Matvey Polunin left the room before anybody could ask which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nichita Moțpan 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 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.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Shkolik 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kamran Aliev. 2‑1 against Rotor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Stepan Glotov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matvey Polunin on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending 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 SKA Khabarovsk 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 Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Grassi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Jacobo Alcalde was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Marked 6.71 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Bruno Grassi
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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.24 on the card, and the SKA Khabarovsk support went home talking about one name.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Matvey Polunin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the SKA Khabarovsk dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Grassi knocks on the manager's door
4 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can tell you which week it ends in.
Nichita Moțpan 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 Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can tell you which week it ends in.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout19 Oct 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 0‑2 Matvey Polunin left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Arshak Koryan is on it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Lukáš Ambros is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikhail Shtepa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Nichita Moțpan 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.
20 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 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Matvey Polunin to a room that had heard them before.
Vladislav Masternoy 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. SKA Khabarovsk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Matvey Polunin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the SKA Khabarovsk dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Shinnik defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
That is the business done at SKA Khabarovsk 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.
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.
SKA Khabarovsk asked and Textilschik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Matvey Polunin to a room that had heard them before.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. SKA Khabarovsk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Grassi dropped after a run of poor form
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a SKA Khabarovsk man
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Adalberto
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Chernomorets had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and SKA Khabarovsk did not stop to explain themselves.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
SKA Khabarovsk asked and Volga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Kozhemyakin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and SKA Khabarovsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Deportes Tolima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Haladas 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Matvey Polunin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the SKA Khabarovsk dressing room was either.
Bruno Grassi is 39 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.