From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Jan 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match11 Jan 2031
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Igor Gorbunov 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 dugout13 Jan 2031
“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.
Match11 Jan 2031
0‑1 to Chelyabinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Alexey Vakulich 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.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal Tula can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market6 Jan 2031
“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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match4 Jan 2031
4 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Alexey Kuznetsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Bruninho signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bruninho and Arsenal Tula agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
$773.8K from the owner keeps Arsenal Tula afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Match4 Jan 2031
0‑1 to Yenisey, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 128% of the Arsenal Tula income
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Daniil Martovoy left out for the big one
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom30 Dec 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Arsenal Tula
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arsenal Tula is running low.
Player ratings30 Dec 2030
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.99, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings30 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Alexey Kuznetsov 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.
Match28 Dec 2030
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arsenal Tula and Rodina in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match28 Dec 2030
2‑4 to Rodina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Pliev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom30 Dec 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Dec 2030
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Match21 Dec 2030
2‑5 against Rotor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
A brace, and Lorenzo Corral takes the afternoon — 8.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lorenzo Corral provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market23 Dec 2030
“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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Dec 2030
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arsenal Tula and Rotor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Vakulich 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 dugout23 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Martovoy, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Dec 2030
Chastening afternoon for Arsenal Tula
A 0‑3 beating by Torpedo Moscow was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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 Dec 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
The borrowing at Arsenal Tula reaches $30.1M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $30.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
The manager makes an example of Nikita Karmaev
“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.
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
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 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Beaten 4 times: a bad day for Pavel Aksyonov
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Dec 2030
17 matches without a win, and then this, against Shinnik. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market9 Dec 2030
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Dec 2030
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Shinnik had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Arsenal Tula did not stop to explain themselves.
Boardroom9 Dec 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Konstantin Pliev commits to Arsenal Tula for another 2 years.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
A goal and an assist for Lorenzo Corral — 7.86
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.86 beside his name.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
Match7 Dec 2030
A 2‑1 win over Shinnik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Nov 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
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.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Dec 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Konstantin Pliev and Arsenal Tula agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
The owner puts $717.9K into Arsenal Tula
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“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.
Match30 Nov 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2030
16 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 42. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The terraces25 Nov 2030
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Nov 2030
1‑2 to SKA Khabarovsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Bazilevskiy, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Nov 2030
15 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.
Match16 Nov 2030
0‑3 against Chernomorets, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match16 Nov 2030
8 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad18 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Nov 2030
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Boardroom18 Nov 2030
Nobody left the Arsenal Tula 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 dugout18 Nov 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Nov 2030
14 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.
Match9 Nov 2030
7 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Oleg Isaenko in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Nov 2030
0‑2 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom11 Nov 2030
Wages swallow 131% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Alexey Vakulich 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.
Boardroom11 Nov 2030
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2030
13 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.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal Tula can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match2 Nov 2030
6 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
The owner puts $697.9K into Arsenal Tula
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Oct 2030
12 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
The terraces28 Oct 2030
The mood at Arsenal Tula 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.
Match26 Oct 2030
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Oct 2030
Krylya Sovetov left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
“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 Oct 2030
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Oct 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Match19 Oct 2030
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Tula can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Vakulich 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 dugout21 Oct 2030
“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 Oct 2030
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Looking ahead21 Oct 2030
A test against the best for Arsenal Tula
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Krylya Sovetov.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2030
10 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
Match12 Oct 2030
3 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
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.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom14 Oct 2030
Wages eat 132% of everything Arsenal Tula 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.
Boardroom14 Oct 2030
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Arsenal Tula dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Oct 2030
9 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.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
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.
Match2 Oct 2030
The small margins put Arsenal Tula out
Out, 0‑1 to Kuban, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stepan Oganesyan and Arsenal Tula agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
The owner puts $628.5K into Arsenal Tula
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Sep 2030
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Match28 Sep 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Sep 2030
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 dugout30 Sep 2030
“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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Oleg Isaenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“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 ratings30 Sep 2030
7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Arsenal Tula had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Sep 2030
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.
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Alexey Kuznetsov 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Sep 2030
Spartak Kostroma left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
Lorenzo Corral 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 Arsenal Tula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
Gonzalo Burgoa dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Sep 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Sep 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Sep 2030
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Foma Bystrov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Sep 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Grischenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
“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
Squad9 Sep 2030
A fracture rules Filippo De Col out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Arsenal Tula close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 23 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.
Match7 Sep 2030
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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexey Kuznetsov commits to Arsenal Tula for another 2 years.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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 Sep 2030
“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 Sep 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Wages eat 130% of everything Arsenal Tula 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.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Sep 2030
The mood at Arsenal Tula 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.
Match31 Aug 2030
Beaten 0‑3 by Rodina, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad2 Sep 2030
30 days out for Filippo De Col after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Sep 2030
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Sep 2030
Only the photograph left for Jackie Muñoz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jackie Muñoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexey Kuznetsov and Arsenal Tula agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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
Upbeat
Market26 Aug 2030
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Krasnodar had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad26 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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 targets26 Aug 2030
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.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
“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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
“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 Arsenal Tula know it.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
7.56, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Arsenal Tula had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Aug 2030
Beaten 0‑3 by Torpedo Moscow, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad19 Aug 2030
A fracture rules Filippo De Col out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Aug 2030
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.
Market19 Aug 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Arsenal Tula have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Adam Davies 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.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
Arsenal Tula asked and Tondela 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 dugout19 Aug 2030
“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
Upbeat
Squad12 Aug 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Aug 2030
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom12 Aug 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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 Aug 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
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.
Match10 Aug 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Martovoy. 1‑0 against Shinnik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom12 Aug 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces5 Aug 2030
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad5 Aug 2030
A fracture rules Filippo De Col out for 58 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market5 Aug 2030
Jackie Muñoz has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match3 Aug 2030
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
$466.1K from the owner keeps Arsenal Tula afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rotor have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jul 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Jul 2030
“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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chernomorets have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Ilja Grischenko
“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 ratings29 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Jul 2030
72 days out for Filippo De Col after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Jul 2030
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chernomorets were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Arsenal Tula asked and AEL said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market22 Jul 2030
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonid Baranovsky 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.
Market22 Jul 2030
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alexandr Toporov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jul 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom15 Jul 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jackie Muñoz 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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 Jul 2030
At 21 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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 targets15 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFK Beograd have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom15 Jul 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom15 Jul 2030
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces8 Jul 2030
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Match8 Jul 2030
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 16 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.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Tula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal Tula can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Jul 2030
86 days out for Filippo De Col after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market8 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Jackie Muñoz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jackie Muñoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maksym Savchuk 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 Jul 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Igor Gorbunov and Arsenal Tula agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Filippo De Col out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Jul 2030
Igor Tursunov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
The deal with Krylya Sovetov is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rodina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad1 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jul 2030
A late step up for Bruninho
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Arsenal Tula asked and Noah 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 dugout1 Jul 2030
No hiding place for Bruninho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruninho, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikolai Myasnikov and Arsenal Tula agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jun 2030
100 days out for Filippo De Col after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market24 Jun 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market24 Jun 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arsenal Tula have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces24 Jun 2030
Danil Ryazanov has gone, the accounts have $620.0K 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 targets24 Jun 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arsenal Tula have done the hard part with Lucko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Ilja Grischenko 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.
Market24 Jun 2030
Rubin paid $620.0K and Arsenal Tula took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2030
Filippo De Col breaks a bone — 107 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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 targets17 Jun 2030
Arsenal Tula asked and Rubin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Jun 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Arsenal Tula have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Corral
“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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“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 Arsenal Tula will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market17 Jun 2030
Rubin are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Arsenal Tula will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market17 Jun 2030
The name of Oleg Isaenko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal Tula say nothing, which says plenty.
Boardroom17 Jun 2030
Open for business: Arsenal Tula enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces10 Jun 2030
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Match10 Jun 2030
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad10 Jun 2030
114 days out for Filippo De Col after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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 dugout10 Jun 2030
“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.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
The borrowing at Arsenal Tula reaches $28.6M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $28.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Filippo De Col breaks a bone — 121 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Arsenal Tula can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
$707.3K from the owner keeps Arsenal Tula afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Market3 Jun 2030
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nikita Bazilevskiy has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Arsenal Tula.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“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 dugout3 Jun 2030
Konstantin Pliev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 May 2030
Filippo De Col breaks a bone — 128 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 May 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 May 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 May 2030
“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.
Squad27 May 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Vakulich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 May 2030
Nikita Karmaev 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 Arsenal Tula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 May 2030
Filippo De Col breaks a bone — 135 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout20 May 2030
“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.
Squad20 May 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market20 May 2030
The name of Oleg Isaenko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal Tula say nothing, which says plenty.
Market20 May 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout20 May 2030
Vladimir Ivanov 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 dugout20 May 2030
Artem Isaev has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Artem Isaev has written the date down.
Market20 May 2030
The clock does Igor Tursunov’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Arsenal Tula could ask drops and the wages Igor Tursunov can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 May 2030
The mood at Arsenal Tula 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.
Match13 May 2030
Position 18, 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.
Squad13 May 2030
A fracture rules Filippo De Col out for 142 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout13 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal Tula may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 May 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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 May 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom13 May 2030
12 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Boardroom13 May 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom13 May 2030
124% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 May 2030
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Squad6 May 2030
A fracture rules Filippo De Col out for 149 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom6 May 2030
A stranger takes charge at Arsenal Tula
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
The dugout6 May 2030
Alexey Kuznetsov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom6 May 2030
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad6 May 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Konstantin Pliev and Arsenal Tula agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 May 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom6 May 2030
$659.5K of the owner's money at Arsenal Tula
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Martovoy, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Apr 2030
Filippo De Col breaks a bone — 156 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 156 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Apr 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Fran Obiagwu
“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 dugout29 Apr 2030
Lorenzo Corral 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Apr 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Jackie Muñoz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Lorenzo Corral 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.
Market22 Apr 2030
The name of Ilja Grischenko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal Tula say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Apr 2030
The mood at Arsenal Tula 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.
Match15 Apr 2030
Position 18, 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.
Market15 Apr 2030
Yamil Chiguer has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Boardroom15 Apr 2030
Wages eat 133% of everything Arsenal Tula 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Karmaev 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.
Boardroom15 Apr 2030
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Loan watch15 Apr 2030
“I did not go to Kuban to sit and watch. I want to come back to Arsenal Tula and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
Nikita Karmaev 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 Arsenal Tula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal Tula can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The owner puts $628.8K into Arsenal Tula
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Ivanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
The manager's exit leaves Lorenzo Corral exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Lorenzo Corral is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Market8 Apr 2030
At 36, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Apr 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stepan Oganesyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Arsenal Tula told Konstantin Pliev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
Lorenzo Corral without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Lorenzo Corral was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
Jackie Muñoz 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 dugout1 Apr 2030
Omar Minatulaev 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A season on the outside for Bruninho
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Arsenal Tula has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 Apr 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Mar 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
The medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for Jackie Muñoz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
No hiding place for Bruninho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruninho, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Djanashia 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 dugout25 Mar 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omar Minatulaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad25 Mar 2030
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Arsenal Tula would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces18 Mar 2030
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Match18 Mar 2030
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 16 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.
Market18 Mar 2030
Yamil Chiguer has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Yamil Chiguer 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch18 Mar 2030
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Arsenal Tula, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Market18 Mar 2030
Igor Tursunov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Arsenal Tula has been clear about where Igor Tursunov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Alexey Kuznetsov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Mar 2030
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match11 Mar 2030
The season ends: position 18 for Arsenal Tula
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 16 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad11 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets11 Mar 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lucko have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
Wages eat 139% of everything Arsenal Tula 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.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Match2 Mar 2030
10 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Market4 Mar 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Lorenzo Corral gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lorenzo Corral has just signed for Arsenal Tula, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oleg Isaenko and Arsenal Tula agree another 3 years.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Mar 2030
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The owner puts $506.8K into Arsenal Tula
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Arsenal Tula asked and Radnicki 1923 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
Uneasy
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match23 Feb 2030
9 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Market25 Feb 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
Window shuts: 0 in, 4 out at Arsenal Tula
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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 targets25 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ufa have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
A loan move for Nikos Vlioras is in the works
Arsenal Tula have made the call to Radnicki 1923. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Arsenal Tula told Ilja Grischenko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Feb 2030
The mood at Arsenal Tula 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.
Market18 Feb 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arsenal Tula have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match18 Feb 2030
Position 18, 14 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.
Match16 Feb 2030
8 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Feb 2030
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Danil Pyatibratov 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Match16 Feb 2030
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match9 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Feb 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Still nobody in the Arsenal Tula dugout
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Wages swallow 133% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
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
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Match2 Feb 2030
0‑3 to Neftekhimik, 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.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
A stranger takes charge at Arsenal Tula
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Market4 Feb 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Match2 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
Squad4 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jan 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market28 Jan 2030
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jan 2030
Add another name to the list: CSKA Moscow have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Stepan Oganesyan. The answer from Arsenal Tula has not changed — yet.
Match26 Jan 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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 targets28 Jan 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match26 Jan 2030
Spartak Kostroma left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
“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 terraces21 Jan 2030
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad21 Jan 2030
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Tula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match21 Jan 2030
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 13 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.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market21 Jan 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolai Myasnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match19 Jan 2030
4 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Match19 Jan 2030
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Tula can tell you which week it ends in.
The terraces21 Jan 2030
He is 17 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jan 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Tursunov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Tula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
Match12 Jan 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
129% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad14 Jan 2030
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Erkan Tasci to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Tursunov
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Tula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Tula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
$105.0K of the owner's money at Arsenal Tula
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match5 Jan 2030
0‑1 to Chaika, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Dec 2029
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Tula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market31 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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 ratings31 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Dec 2029
Artem Arutyunov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Rotor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
Nobody left the Arsenal Tula 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristhian Subero 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 Dec 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 Dec 2029
The mood at Arsenal Tula 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Igor Tursunov damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match24 Dec 2029
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 13 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.
Match22 Dec 2029
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Arsenal Tula rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Torpedo Moscow had no answer to any of it.
Squad24 Dec 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market24 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolai Myasnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Marked 9.61 — 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
Crisis
Squad17 Dec 2029
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Tula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Dec 2029
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.
Match15 Dec 2029
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Tula can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Dec 2029
Shinnik left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Artyom Ibragimov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Dec 2029
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Tula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match8 Dec 2029
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Dec 2029
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Tula can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Wages swallow 153% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match8 Dec 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Dec 2029
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
“This is a club with real history, and I did not have to think about it for long.” The new manager takes charge with every slate wiped clean.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Igor Tursunov damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Igor Gorbunov commits to Arsenal Tula for another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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 Dec 2029
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Looking ahead3 Dec 2029
Arsenal Tula face Volga in the game that matters most
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Nov 2029
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Tursunov
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Tula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Nov 2029
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
Chernomorets left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
“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 Nov 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Tursunov
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Tula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Alexey Vakulich 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.
Looking ahead19 Nov 2029
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Arsenal Tula know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Arutyunov, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
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
Uneasy
Match10 Nov 2029
18 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Yenisey were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Tursunov
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Tula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Nov 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Orlandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Nov 2029
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Nov 2029
Wages eat 153% of everything Arsenal Tula 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad5 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Tursunov
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Tula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Nov 2029
0‑4 against Akron, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
Arsenal Tula have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Market5 Nov 2029
Oleg Isaenko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
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Match
3 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
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Boardroom
news_h_severance_paid
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Oct 2029
17 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.
The terraces29 Oct 2029
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad29 Oct 2029
The knee: Igor Tursunov out for 111 days
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Tula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Tula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match29 Oct 2029
Position 18, 6 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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
Fakel left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristhian Subero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Oct 2029
16 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal Tula may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Alexey Kuznetsov 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
0‑1 to KAMAZ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Oct 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Kuznetsov, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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; Arsenal Tula are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Oct 2029
15 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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“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 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2029
Wages swallow 143% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Oct 2029
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal Tula can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match3 Oct 2029
0‑1 against Spartak Tambov, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market8 Oct 2029
Oleg Isaenko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexey Vakulich and Arsenal Tula agree another 3 years.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Arutyunov, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Alexey Vakulich 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
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match29 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Arsenal Tula
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arsenal Tula is running low.
Match1 Oct 2029
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 4 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.
Market1 Oct 2029
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Sep 2029
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Match29 Sep 2029
0‑1 to Spartak Kostroma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2029
11 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Sep 2029
4 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Oleg Isaenko 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.
Match22 Sep 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Sep 2029
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 dugout24 Sep 2029
“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 Sep 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Market17 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Orlandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Sep 2029
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match15 Sep 2029
0‑2 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
No hiding place for Timur Kim
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timur Kim, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
119% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Sep 2029
9 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Market10 Sep 2029
Only the photograph left for Oleg Isaenko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleg Isaenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 29 in, 17 out at Arsenal Tula
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 29 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nizhniy Novgorod keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Sep 2029
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Rodion Plotnikov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Jackie Muñoz 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. Jackie Muñoz has, at Arsenal Tula, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Sep 2029
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match1 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Tula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ilja Grischenko and Arsenal Tula agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Oleg Isaenko 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 targets3 Sep 2029
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
Match25 Aug 2029
7 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 Aug 2029
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Olaf Stańczuk gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Olaf Stańczuk has just signed for Arsenal Tula, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Yaroslav Demchenko 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 dugout27 Aug 2029
“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.
Match25 Aug 2029
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad27 Aug 2029
8 new faces, and Arsenal Tula 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market20 Aug 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal Tula people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match18 Aug 2029
6 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Isaenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Bruninho wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Arsenal Tula can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
Wages swallow 105% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Market20 Aug 2029
Yamil Chiguer is 20, and Arsenal Tula have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market20 Aug 2029
Tim Malen is 19, and Arsenal Tula have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Aug 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arsenal Tula have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market13 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match11 Aug 2029
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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Arsenal Tula is enjoying the guessing.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
Timur Melekestsev scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Volga, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market13 Aug 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Foma Kolmogorov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market13 Aug 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksey Klimov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Aug 2029
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Aug 2029
4 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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 targets6 Aug 2029
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.
Match4 Aug 2029
SKA Khabarovsk left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruninho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jul 2029
Kuban come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Arsenal Tula did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom30 Jul 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Anton Polorotov has agreed terms with Leningradets for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Nicola Sansone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Jul 2029
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Tula can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruninho 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 ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Arsenal Tula had the best player on the pitch.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Too much change too quickly at Arsenal Tula
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jul 2029
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Danil Batyrshin 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Vladimir Ivanov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Match21 Jul 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
No hiding place for Bruninho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruninho, and the manager let it.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Wages swallow 108% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
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The dugout
Nicola Sansone is playing like a man with something to prove
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nicola Sansone had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
A stranger takes charge at Arsenal Tula
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Market16 Jul 2029
Oleg Isaenko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Volna waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Arsenal Tula is enjoying the guessing.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Jul 2029
Anger at Arsenal Tula spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Tula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market9 Jul 2029
“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.
Market9 Jul 2029
The offer from KAMAZ for Nikita Bazilevskiy 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arsenal Tula have done the hard part with Koper, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad9 Jul 2029
At 23 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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 targets9 Jul 2029
Arsenal Tula asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Jul 2029
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jul 2029
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 19 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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
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.
Market2 Jul 2029
The offer from Baltika for Timur Melekestsev 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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alessandro Rossi has agreed terms with Volna for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market2 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Omar Minatulaev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Nicola Sansone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market2 Jul 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Arsenal Tula have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market2 Jul 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nicola Sansone has his answer from Arsenal Tula; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal Tula people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market25 Jun 2029
The phone has started ringing about Timur Melekestsev again, and this time the name on the line is Baltika. Arsenal Tula are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Everything agreed with Lokomotiv Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad25 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Petrolul have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikita Bazilevskiy commits to Arsenal Tula for another 4 years.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Arsenal Tula are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout25 Jun 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Kuznetsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad25 Jun 2029
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market18 Jun 2029
Igor Tursunov 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 Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Nicola Sansone 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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
99% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Tursunov 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 targets18 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Petrolul: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market18 Jun 2029
At 36, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces11 Jun 2029
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Market11 Jun 2029
Nicola Sansone has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal Tula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Nicola Sansone 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Tommaso Longo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tommaso Longo has just signed for Arsenal Tula, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Plotnikov commits to Arsenal Tula for another 4 years.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Kim 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.
Market11 Jun 2029
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Arsenal Tula could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Anton Abdulov confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match4 Jun 2029
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal Tula
Position 18 and 19 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The season belongs to Timur Kim
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Arsenal Tula have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolai Myasnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Nicola Sansone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fran Obiagwu commits to Arsenal Tula for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 May 2029
“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.
Squad28 May 2029
Nicola Sansone 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Kim 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 dugout28 May 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Arsenal Tula told Vladimir Djanashia something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout28 May 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Timur Melekestsev has written the date down.
Market28 May 2029
The Timur Kim story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timur Kim signs something — a contract at Arsenal Tula or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Oleg Isaenko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleg Isaenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 May 2029
Wages swallow 125% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad21 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timur Kim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Tula know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout21 May 2029
The manager makes Igor Tursunov a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arsenal Tula. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces14 May 2029
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Market14 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Nicola Sansone
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicola Sansone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 May 2029
Nicola Sansone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom14 May 2029
Still no name above the door at Arsenal Tula
Day 13 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
The dugout14 May 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Tula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 May 2029
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Arsenal Tula money.
Market14 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timur Melekestsev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 May 2029
Alexey Kuznetsov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2029
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Match7 May 2029
Position 18, 19 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Market7 May 2029
“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.
Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Igor Gorbunov and Arsenal Tula agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 May 2029
Nicola Sansone 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arsenal Tula now.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Kim is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
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Boardroom
news_h_severance_paid
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The dugout
A fresh start for Nicola Sansone under the new man
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The dugout
Alexey Kuznetsov knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Apr 2029
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Nicola Sansone 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 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vladimir Ivanov commits to Arsenal Tula for another 4 years.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Timur Kim 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 dugout30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Ivanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Timur Kim 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“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.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Iljas Akhmedov 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Sansone 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.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
Wages swallow 141% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Market23 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Tula know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Igor Tursunov 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.
Market23 Apr 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Arsenal Tula money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Apr 2029
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Nicola Sansone
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicola Sansone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Nicola Sansone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“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.
Market16 Apr 2029
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Arsenal Tula could get for him.
Market16 Apr 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alexey Kuznetsov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Igor Tursunov 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 Arsenal Tula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Apr 2029
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Apr 2029
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Alexey Kuznetsov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Apr 2029
Sinan Ucar 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 Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Nicola Sansone 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.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
The numbers do not look good at Arsenal Tula
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timur Kim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cristhian Subero commits to Arsenal Tula for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Evgeniy Zaytsev has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal Tula can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Igor Tursunov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicola Sansone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Danil Pyatibratov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Nicola Sansone without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Nicola Sansone was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Grigorjev, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Timur Melekestsev. Arsenal Tula will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Mar 2029
Oleg Isaenko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Sansone 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.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
152% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“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 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Tula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Mar 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Tula know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market26 Mar 2029
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Arsenal Tula could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Mar 2029
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Nicola Sansone
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicola Sansone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Nicola Sansone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Kim 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.
Market19 Mar 2029
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Arsenal Tula money.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Bazilevskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Mar 2029
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
Pressure builds in the Arsenal Tula boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market12 Mar 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolai Myasnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
The numbers do not look good at Arsenal Tula
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Sansone 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 targets12 Mar 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaglebie have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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.
Market12 Mar 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Cristhian Subero has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Arsenal Tula.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Evgeniy Zaytsev confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match3 Mar 2029
0‑4 to Orenburg, 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.
Match5 Mar 2029
19 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market5 Mar 2029
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timur Melekestsev commits to Arsenal Tula for another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Igor Gorbunov 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Sinan Ucar 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. Sinan Ucar has, at Arsenal Tula, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Nicola Sansone 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 targets5 Mar 2029
Arsenal Tula asked and Cavese 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
Uneasy
Match24 Feb 2029
21 matches without a win, and then this, against Rotor. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market26 Feb 2029
“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 Arsenal Tula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Feb 2029
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Rotor had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Arsenal Tula did not stop to explain themselves.
Market26 Feb 2029
Oleg Isaenko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market26 Feb 2029
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Krasnodar moved on, Stepan Oganesyan reports back to Arsenal Tula, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Arsenal Tula close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 6 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pandurii have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Wages swallow 150% of the Arsenal Tula income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Feb 2029
21 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
The terraces19 Feb 2029
Supporters organise against the Arsenal Tula 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.
Market19 Feb 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market19 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Tula is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market19 Feb 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Arsenal Tula have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Igor Gorbunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Nicola Sansone 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.