From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 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 The request is on a desk at Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marat Bokoev and Akron agree another 3 years.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Nikita Chelyshev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Yomar Rocha 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akron told Ilja Moseichuk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Yomar Rocha asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Abakarov is on it.
Market11 Oct 2027
The Marat Bokoev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marat Bokoev signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Oct 2027
Nowhere to hide for Akron
0‑4 against Krasnodar, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match2 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marat Bokoev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Oct 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Inquest at Akron
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 96% of everything Akron earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Akron
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Yomar Rocha 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Alexandr Kutitskiy 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Eyupspor to sit and watch. I want to come back to Akron and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Innokentiy Dmitriev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Nobody at Akron 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Chances created: 10. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces20 Sep 2027
Supporters organise against the Akron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market20 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match20 Sep 2027
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 14, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Khalil Liam Kie is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Akron come up short against Akhmat
Akhmat left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Yomar Rocha 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 19 in, 17 out at Akron
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Vitaly Gudiev 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yomar Rocha 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.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Akron asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match11 Sep 2027
Dinamo Moscow left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Marat Bokoev gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Vitaly Gudiev 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Fernández 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Akron asked and Dinamo Makhachkala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout6 Sep 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.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Yomar Rocha gets picked when it counts
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 Yomar Rocha is on it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Looking ahead6 Sep 2027
Dinamo Moscow next, and one man in the Akron dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market6 Sep 2027
The name of Roberto Fernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market30 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Volga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yomar Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Aug 2027
0‑1 to Lokomotiv Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Innokentiy Dmitriev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“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 dugout30 Aug 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexandr Kutitskiy is on it.
Market30 Aug 2027
The name of Gilson Benchimol keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 Aug 2027
The mood at Akron has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match21 Aug 2027
At last: Akron win one
12 matches without a win, and then this, against Ural. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market23 Aug 2027
Paulo Vitor hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
Semyon Zelenov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Khalil Liam Kie is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Yury Zheleznov ran the middle of the pitch — 7.47
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.47, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Yomar Rocha
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Akron
12 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Aug 2027
Akron say no — this time
The offer from Volga for Rodrigo Escoval 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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.51, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
The goals have deserted Akron
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Akron can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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The dugout
Yomar Rocha dropped after a run of poor form
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Akron
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Kevin Arévalo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2027
11 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Match7 Aug 2027
Akron taken apart
0‑3 to Zenit, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Yomar Rocha 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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Inquest at Akron
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Innokentiy Dmitriev after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Yomar Rocha has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Akron
10 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Volga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market2 Aug 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Stefan Lončar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Eyupspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexandr Degtev. The answer from Akron has not changed — yet.
Match31 Jul 2027
0‑1 to Dinamo Makhachkala, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Marat Bokoev gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Jul 2027
The mood at Akron has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match24 Jul 2027
9 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Up for the corner, and Maxim Boldyrev delivers — 7.30
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Maxim Boldyrev scored, was marked 7.30, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volna is saying, and nobody at Akron is enjoying the guessing.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$190.0K was the most the club would pay and CSKA Moscow were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Roberto Fernández 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Akron's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Akron has to find a result from somewhere.
Market19 Jul 2027
Akron say no — this time
The offer from KAMAZ for Gilson Benchimol 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.
Market19 Jul 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Roberto Fernández again, and this time the name on the line is Sokol. Akron are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Escoval will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The offer went to Volna this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$580.0K was the most the club would pay and Sokol were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Akron have gone to CSKA Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
In brief
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Squad
A falling-out at Akron
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Boardroom
5 academy graduates step up at Akron
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Squad
A row about effort at Akron
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Volga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market12 Jul 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. KAMAZ moved on, Aleksa Đurasović reports back to Akron, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vyacheslav Bardybakhin and Akron agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Yomar Rocha wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Akron will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Arévalo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Jul 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Roberto Fernández had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match5 Jul 2027
Akron sink to position 14
28 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Kristijan Bistrović has gone, the accounts have $4.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akron have done the hard part with Baltika, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yomar Rocha commits to Akron for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Supporters organise against the Akron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market28 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
Pressure builds in the Akron boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Dinamo Moscow have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kristijan Bistrović. The answer from Akron has not changed — yet.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Dinamo Stavropol wanted more than $430.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Khalil Liam Kie is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
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Transfer targets
Famalicao tell Akron: Ivan Zlobin is not for sale
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Squad
5 new faces, and Akron are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Neftekhimik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Shinnik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aleksa Đurasović. The answer from Akron has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$920.0K on the table at Yenisey. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $460.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Shinnik drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Dinamo Stavropol this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Aleksa Đurasović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Semyon Zelenov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Kristijan Bistrović 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jun 2027
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paulo Vitor and Akron agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Khetag Khosonov for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Akron will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Pestryakov, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Paulo Vitor knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Vitor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Nobody at Akron 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Slobodan Tedić signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Akron can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match7 Jun 2027
Every point is an argument now for Akron
Position 14 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleksa Đurasović commits to Akron for another 4 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Akron had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Vitor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Akron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market31 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Pressure builds in the Akron boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Bistrović 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 dugout31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
When it matters, Yomar Rocha plays
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.
The dugout31 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Roberto Fernández’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Bistrović 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 dugout24 May 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Abakarov is on it.
Market24 May 2027
The Marat Bokoev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marat Bokoev signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yomar Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
Rodrigo Escoval has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Akron know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Akron. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout17 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Karlen Hovhannisyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 May 2027
Akron have let the market know Karlen Hovhannisyan can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad17 May 2027
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 May 2027
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 14, 28 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Bistrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Khetag Khosonov 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 dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yomar Rocha, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Nobody at Akron 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.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Slobodan Tedić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad10 May 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Akron says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 May 2027
The mood at Akron has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market3 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Pressure builds in the Akron boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Ionuţ Nedelcearu 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 dugout3 May 2027
Yomar Rocha has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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 dugout3 May 2027
Yomar Rocha asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout3 May 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
$5.9M taken back off the Akron table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stanislav Antipin
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Kristijan Bistrović 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yomar Rocha 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
12 new faces, and Akron 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Kevin Arévalo
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Yomar Rocha knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stanislav Antipin
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Vitaly Gudiev 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Bistrović 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodrigo Escoval is on it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Khetag Khosonov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gilson Benchimol’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Apr 2027
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 14, 28 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Apr 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Kristijan Bistrović 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 dugout12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“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; Akron are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Nobody at Akron 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khetag Khosonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Stefan Lončar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Khalil Liam Kie is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Yomar Rocha 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 Apr 2027
“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; Akron are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Yomar Rocha has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Semyon Zelenov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kristijan Bistrović 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Yomar Rocha gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Akron are still strangers to each other
12 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Ørn Flø and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Abakarov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Bistrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 66 days on the sidelines for Ilja Moseichuk, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Khetag Khosonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Escoval has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gilson Benchimol’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Akron that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
22 starts and an average of 6.72. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Mar 2027
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 14, 28 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market15 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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 Akron know it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yomar Rocha 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Maradishvili, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Yomar Rocha knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Arseny Dmitriev 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristijan Bistrović and Akron agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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 Akron know it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Stefan Lončar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Kristijan Bistrović 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.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Akron asked and Famalicao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Rodrigo Escoval
“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 dugout8 Mar 2027
Yomar Rocha has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Feb 2027
7 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Akron — 7.96
1 for Kristijan Bistrović, marked 7.96, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Akron close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Akron can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Add another name to the list: KAMAZ have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rodrigo Escoval. The answer from Akron has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Bistrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Feb 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Akron
6 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $77.9K — a club that wants Timur Zhamaletdinov enough to be asked twice.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Stanislav Puzanov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Stanislav Puzanov has, at Akron, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Akron offered $75.0K; Arsenal Tula said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yomar Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Akron asked and Feirense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match15 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Akron
Position 14 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market15 Feb 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Neftekhimik; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Match13 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Akron
5 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The fee is $320.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Kuban drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done: Stanislav Antipin joins from Yenisey in a deal worth $160.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
$70.0K on the table at Arsenal Tula. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market8 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
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 7.82 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akron have done the hard part with Kuban, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market8 Feb 2027
The fee is $610.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sochi drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match6 Feb 2027
4 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Both jobs done by Dudu — 7.05
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.05, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ørn Flø gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ørn Flø has just signed for Akron, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
Yenisey come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Akron and Sochi have settled on $610.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Aleksa Đurasović again, and this time the name on the line is SKA Khabarovsk. Akron are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match30 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Akron
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Akron will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Akron against Sochi
0‑1 to Sochi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market25 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ionuţ Nedelcearu has his answer from Akron; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Slobodan Tedić is still being punished for one mistake
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 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Kevin Arévalo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Akron say no — this time
The offer from Botev Vratsa for Aleksa Đurasović 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Dinamo Moscow left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Paulo Vitor
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 Innokentiy Dmitriev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodrigo Escoval is on it.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Akron know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Jan 2027
The cup run ends for Akron
0‑3 against Zenit, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
A cup hiding at Zenit leaves Akron explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Up for the corner, and Kristijan Bistrović delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kristijan Bistrović scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikita Bazilevskiy is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khetag Khosonov 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Marat Bokoev
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Semyon Zelenov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match2 Jan 2027
Three points for Akron, 2‑0 the final word against Rubin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Market4 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arseny Guzhvin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market4 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Egor Laptev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market4 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Anton Spiridonov 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arseny Romanov 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
One of those days for Dudu
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 8.09 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Akron
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Baltika were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match26 Dec 2026
Three points for Akron, 1‑0 the final word against Baltika in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khetag Khosonov 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Akron had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 2026
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match19 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Akron can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ilja Porokhov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Akron have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match19 Dec 2026
Krasnodar left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitaly Gudiev, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Khetag Khosonov 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match14 Dec 2026
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 14, 16 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Akron
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Dudu’s goal not enough for Akron
Dudu scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Orenburg, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout14 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
Dudu was the difference for Akron
Marked 7.98. 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Akron take on the side everybody is chasing
Krasnodar arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paulo Vitor and Akron agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Khetag Khosonov 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 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Stefan Lončar is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Karlen Hovhannisyan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Rodrigo Escoval has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Slobodan Tedić commits to Akron for another 4 years.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nizhniy Novgorod left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Khetag Khosonov 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Kristijan Bistrović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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; Akron are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Akron
Position 13, 15 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Nov 2026
Akron march on in the cup
Ural are out and Akron go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Semyon Zelenov at 19 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Semyon Zelenov did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces23 Nov 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitaly Gudiev, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Gilson Benchimol's mistake
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Innokentiy Dmitriev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Akron
Something was said to Bojan Dimoski and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Kirill Kosarev
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khetag Khosonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Nov 2026
Akron taken apart
0‑3 to Spartak Moscow, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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 dugout9 Nov 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.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Akron dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Innokentiy Dmitriev after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Aleksa Đurasović 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Rodrigo Escoval is on it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Nikita Bazilevskiy
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Kristijan Bistrović takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kristijan Bistrović provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Kristijan Bistrović
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kristijan Bistrović has come out of that comparison in the side, and Akron have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Paulo Vitor gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Nov 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.” Innokentiy Dmitriev, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Vitaly Gudiev. Akron will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Kevin Arévalo gets picked when it counts
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 Kevin Arévalo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Akron come up short against Zenit
Zenit left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Akron
Something was said to Ionuţ Nedelcearu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Karlen Hovhannisyan
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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marat Bokoev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Khetag Khosonov 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 dugout19 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Akron had the best player on the pitch.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Nikita Bazilevskiy is on it.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Zenit next, and one man in the Akron dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karlen Hovhannisyan and Akron agree another 5 years.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
96% of the income goes out in wages at Akron
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Akron are still strangers to each other
11 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Rodrigo Escoval has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Akron will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout12 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Magomed Abakarov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Akron needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Akron
A 3‑0 win over Sevastopol, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.03 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Semyon Zelenov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Oct 2026
Akron make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Akron have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Timur Abdrashitov has just signed for Akron, and for once the answer mattered.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Aleksa Đurasović has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Stefan Lončar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akron.
In brief
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Match
Akron settle it inside twenty minutes
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Player ratings
Dudu in the eights
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Squad
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Slobodan Tedić takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Slobodan Tedić provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Sochi made Akron work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Khetag Khosonov 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Akron can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout28 Sep 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.” Innokentiy Dmitriev, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market28 Sep 2026
Akron have made Roberto Fernández available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market21 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Arseny Dmitriev to KAMAZ has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Akron with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Yury Zheleznov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Akron will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Akron throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Lokomotiv Moscow the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Akron will enjoy reviewing.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Sep 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 3 in, 4 out at Akron
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad14 Sep 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Rubin wanted more than $130.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match12 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv Moscow left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dudu 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of Stefan Lončar has come up in conversations Akron were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $133.5K — a club that wants Mikhail Ryadno enough to be asked twice.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dudu 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 dugout7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Akron 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Paulo Vitor slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Paulo Vitor is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Akron paid $2.4M
Alexandr Kutitskiy was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nizhniy Novgorod have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Slobodan Tedić scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Rubin, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitaly Gudiev
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
200 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 dugout31 Aug 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 1‑2 Innokentiy Dmitriev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Akron have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Akron say no — this time
The offer from Krasnodar for Stefan Lončar 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
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 7.34 for the rest of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Akron 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yury Zheleznov. 3‑1 against Baltika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dudu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 23 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Gilson Benchimol at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Akron.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Akron taken apart
2‑5 to Krasnodar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market17 Aug 2026
Orenburg come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$2.4M on the table at Dinamo Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Akron — 7.72
1 for Stefan Lončar, marked 7.72, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Aleksa Đurasović delivers — 7.22
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aleksa Đurasović scored, was marked 7.22, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $445.0K — a club that wants Baqtiiar Zainutdinov enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Aleksa Đurasović among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Aleksa Đurasović on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Akron and Krasnodar.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dudu 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Akron say no — this time
The offer from Rostov for Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roberto Fernández and Akron agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$340.0K on the table at Dinamo Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nart have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Marat Bokoev gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Akron are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Slobodan Tedić commits to Akron for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Vitaly Gudiev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Akron asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitaly Gudiev, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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; Akron are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout3 Aug 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Innokentiy Dmitriev to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Qarabag 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.