14 Sep 2027
Tuesday
Process
59 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Baltika

A 0‑3 beating by Rubin was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

7 saves: David Volk was the team

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.

Market

Javohir Esonqulov puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Baltika are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 15 in, 9 out at Baltika

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Laurent Seji is a medical away from Baltika

The deal with Ufa 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Douglas Augusto 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 ratings

Eldar Ćivić runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Gassama 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

Back issues
58 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Sergey Varatynov turns Sochi down

“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.

Squad

David Volk keeps Baltika in it on his own

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.

Market

Zaglebie come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match

Baltika leaking at the back

6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Baltika against CSKA Moscow

0‑2 to CSKA Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Eyes on Ivan Belikov again

The phone has started ringing about Ivan Belikov again, and this time the name on the line is Sochi. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

9 new faces, and Baltika 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.

In brief

57 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

David Volk stands alone

9 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.

The dugout

Manuel Keliano says Baltika went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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.

Match

Baltika leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Market

Eyes on Javohir Esonqulov again

The phone has started ringing about Javohir Esonqulov again, and this time the name on the line is Zaglebie. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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.

Match

Krasnodar take the points off Baltika

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mikhail Ryadno

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Ryadno, and the manager let it.

Squad

Fahd Moufi makes it 200

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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Irakly Manelov dropped after a run of poor form
  • Market Chelyabinsk are about to pick up the phone
56 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A day Yegor Golenkov will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

The dugout

Kirill Stepanov says Baltika went back on their word

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Baltika find a way past Rodina

Rodina made Baltika work for it, but the scoreboard read 5‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Match

Yegor Golenkov among the goals in a wild afternoon

8 goals in one match, Yegor Golenkov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Baltika and Rodina.

Player ratings

Yegor Golenkov in the eights

A performance of 9.74 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Gassama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Baltika leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Market

Kirill Stepanov attracts admirers

The name of Kirill Stepanov has come up in conversations Baltika were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

In brief

55 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 16 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.

Market

Javohir Esonqulov says no to Shonan Bellmare

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Javohir Esonqulov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Javohir Esonqulov asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Market

Baltika may not be able to give Douglas Augusto what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Douglas Augusto wants continental football; whether Baltika can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Market

Kirill Stepanov has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baltika they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov was unplayable

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Douglas Augusto 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.

Match

Akhmat take the points off Baltika

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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

54 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for César Taján

23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Not going: Ivan Belikov stays at Baltika

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Akhmat Grozny had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Krasnodar come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Douglas Augusto signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Douglas Augusto and Baltika agree another 3 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Douglas Augusto 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.

Market

Javohir Esonqulov attracts admirers

The name of Javohir Esonqulov has come up in conversations Baltika were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Match

A bad afternoon for Baltika against Dinamo Moscow

1‑2 to Dinamo Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Douglas Augusto

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Douglas Augusto, and the manager let it.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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.

In brief

53 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 30 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.

Market

Kirill Stepanov has said yes to Chelyabinsk

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Baltika have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Eduardo Anderson 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 Baltika can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Douglas Augusto wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Baltika hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Douglas Augusto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Business is business: Ivan Kukushkin goes

Arsenal Tula paid $610.0K and Baltika took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Lokomotiv Moscow take the points off Baltika

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Match

The run is over for Baltika

4 matches without defeat, and then Lokomotiv Moscow. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

In brief

52 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 38 days

38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov runs at them all day

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.

Player ratings

Both of them Yegor Golenkov's — 9.07

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

BATE come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Sergey Varatynov asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Market

Baltika sign Douglas Augusto for $3.1M

The paperwork is done: Douglas Augusto joins from Krasnodar in a deal worth $3.1M. Now comes the harder part.

Match

Nobody wants to play Baltika right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Eyes on Javohir Esonqulov again

The phone has started ringing about Javohir Esonqulov again, and this time the name on the line is Racing. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

In brief

51 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 46 days

46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Baltika run riot against Rostov

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

A brace, and Kirill Nikishin takes the afternoon — 8.95

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kirill Nikishin provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Levadiakos come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Ivan Kukushkin asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Market

Baltika get their man

The chase for Manuel Keliano ended with $750.0K changing hands and Akhmat Grozny out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Match

Nobody wants to play Baltika right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Baltika

1 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.

In brief

50 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 54 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.

Market

Baltika say no — this time

The offer from Akhmat Grozny for Sergey Varatynov 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 targets

The paperwork begins on Manuel Keliano

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Baltika have done the hard part with Akhmat Grozny, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Baltika rebuffed over Douglas Augusto

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Baltika go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Mingiyan Beveev

“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.

Squad

Nikita Bozov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikita Bozov and Baltika agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Javohir Esonqulov 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Eduardo Anderson's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

In brief

49 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 61 days

61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Not going: Eldar Ćivić stays at Baltika

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Minsk had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Boardroom

Baltika put Radomir Khrenov on notice

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.

The dugout

Mingiyan Beveev: 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.” Baltika have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Kirill Stepanov agrees terms with Chernomorets

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Baltika people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

BATE come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

David Volk comes home

The shirt still fits. David Volk is back at Baltika, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Edarlyn Reyes

Baltika asked and Arsenal Tula said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

An offer of $700.0K for Manuel Keliano

Baltika have gone to Akhmat Grozny with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

In brief

48 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 69 days

69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Dinamo Minsk come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Baltika bid $3.5M for Douglas Augusto

The offer went to Krasnodar this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Loan watch

21 goals on loan for Tenton Yenne

17 appearances at Van and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

Eldar Ćivić attracts admirers

The name of Eldar Ćivić has come up in conversations Baltika were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Transfer targets

David Volk is a medical away from Baltika

The deal with Dinamo Makhachkala 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 targets

Baltika baulk at the price for Slobodan Tedić

Akron wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Market

Baltika get their man

The chase for Maxim Rudakov ended with $410.0K changing hands and Orenburg out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

Mikhail Ryadno is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.

In brief

47 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 77 days

77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Baltika

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Maxim Shnaptsev has said yes to Arsenal Tula

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Baltika have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

Baltika baulk at the price for Jacques Siwe

Rubin wanted more than $9.7M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Baltika agree $410.0K for Maxim Rudakov

The clubs have shaken hands with Orenburg; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Tenton Yenne’s exile

20 goals in 16 games at Van — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Baltika updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Transfer targets

Baltika bid $1.5M for Slobodan Tedić

The offer went to Akron this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

A move Daniil Kondrakov would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniil Kondrakov is living that version at Baltika, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market

Baltika get their man

The chase for Daniil Kondrakov ended with $450.0K changing hands and KDV Tomsk out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

In brief

46 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for César Taján

84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Baltika say no — this time

The offer from Tskhinvali for Arseny Popushoy 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.

Market

Ilja Petrov puts it in writing

“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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Tenton Yenne’s exile

19 goals in 15 games at Van — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Baltika updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Squad

Kirill Davidenko has had enough of the bench

“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 Baltika will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

The dugout

Maxim Shnaptsev is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

Market

The Eldar Ćivić story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eldar Ćivić signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

45 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 92 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.

Boardroom

Baltika put Radomir Khrenov on notice

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.

Market

César Taján asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Loan watch

Tenton Yenne keeps scoring at Van

14 appearances away from home and 18 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

“I want to play”: Arseny Popushoy speaks

“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Baltika

Something was said to Andrey Okladnikov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

Eduardo Anderson is still paying for one afternoon at Baltika

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

44 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 100 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinonso Offor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Rodrigo Brasília wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Kirill Obonin is still paying for one afternoon at Baltika

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Market

The Yegor Golenkov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Golenkov signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

43 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 107 days

107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Baltika

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Baltika is running low.

The dugout

Andrey Mendel says Baltika went back on their word

“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.

Loan watch

17 goals on loan for Tenton Yenne

12 appearances at Van and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Eduardo Anderson 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.

Market

The Nathan Gassama story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nathan Gassama signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Sergey Varatynov 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 Sergey Varatynov has written the date down.

In brief

42 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: César Taján out for 114 days

114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Chinonso Offor 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Maxim Shnaptsev is still paying for one afternoon at Baltika

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout

Vanderlei has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Baltika will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Eldar Ćivić story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eldar Ćivić signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Sergey Varatynov 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 Sergey Varatynov has written the date down.

The dugout

Ilja Petrov 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.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Irakly Manelov’s exile

3 goals in 29 games at Rotor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Baltika updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

In brief

41 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for César Taján

121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Loan watch

15 goals on loan for Tenton Yenne

10 appearances at Van and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

Baltika promote Nikolai Bogdanov from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nikolai Bogdanov 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.

Market

One of our own: Timur Alenin joins the Baltika first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timur Alenin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinonso Offor 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.

Squad

César Taján wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ivan Belikov

“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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Eduardo Anderson's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

In brief

40 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 128 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.

Boardroom

Radomir Khrenov has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Baltika can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Market

César Taján asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Boardroom

Diego Pereira signs for Orenburg while still at Baltika

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Diego Pereira has agreed terms with Orenburg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Loan watch

13 goals on loan for Tenton Yenne

9 appearances at Van and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Squad

Home is on Vanderlei's mind

“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; Baltika are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ilja Petrov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Petrov, and the manager let it.

In brief

39 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for César Taján

135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Baltika

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Baltika is running low.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Chinonso Offor 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.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrey Mendel

“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.

Market

The Stefan Kovač question follows Baltika around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stefan Kovač’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

A door opens for Kirill Nikishin

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.

Market

Rodrigo Brasília placed on the list

Baltika have made Rodrigo Brasília available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok is not doing himself any favours

A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.

In brief

38 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for César Taján

142 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Tenton Yenne’s exile

11 goals in 7 games at Van — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Baltika updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Squad

Javohir Esonqulov 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 dugout

Maxim Shnaptsev is still paying for one afternoon at Baltika

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout

Vanderlei has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Baltika will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

37 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for César Taján

150 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Sergey Varatynov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergey Varatynov commits to Baltika for another 3 years.

Market

Yegor Mitin steps up from the Baltika academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yegor Mitin 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.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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 dugout

No hiding place for Sergey Varatynov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergey Varatynov, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Yegor Golenkov knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yegor Golenkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Eduardo Anderson is still paying for one afternoon at Baltika

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Market

The Maxim Petrov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Petrov signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

36 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

César Taján damages knee ligaments — 157 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 157 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.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Tenton Yenne’s exile

9 goals in 5 games at Van — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Baltika updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

The dugout

Yegor Golenkov 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 dugout

Baltika keep their word to Aymane Mourid

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

Market

Ivan Kukushkin told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ivan Kukushkin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Baltika.

Squad

A promotion for Sergey Varatynov

Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Sergey Varatynov has moved up it.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Kirill Obonin's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

In brief

35 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

18 days out for Alexandr Filin after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Baltika will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Vanderlei puts it in writing

“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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Baltika

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Chinonso Offor 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.

Squad

Rodrigo Brasília wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javohir Esonqulov 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.

Market

Ilja Petrov is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Baltika has been clear about where Ilja Petrov stands, which is more than many ever get.

Loan watch

6 goals on loan for Tenton Yenne

4 appearances at Van and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

The Stefan Kovač talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Baltika know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

34 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Alexandr Filin breaks a bone — 27 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Eduardo Anderson

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eduardo Anderson, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Maxim Shnaptsev is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

Vanderlei gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vanderlei is on it.

In brief

33 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Eduardo Anderson's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Market

The Maxim Petrov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Petrov signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

A season on the outside for Kerim Mrabti

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Baltika has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Squad

“I want to play”: Kirill Zinovich speaks

“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.

Loan watch

3 goals on loan for Irakly Manelov

29 appearances at Rotor and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Loan watch

3 goals on loan for Yaroslav Arbuzov

32 appearances at Shinnik and the goals keep coming. Baltika are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

The dugout

The manager makes Sergey Varatynov a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Baltika. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

32 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Rodrigo Brasília asks to leave Baltika

“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 dugout

Rodrigo Brasília says Baltika went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Alexandr Filin stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Filin and Baltika agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Chinonso Offor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Maxim Rudakov stays at Orenburg as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Baltika will try again when the window opens; Orenburg may not be selling by then.

Market

Baltika promote Valentin Zimnin from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentin Zimnin 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.

Squad

Javohir Esonqulov 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.

Squad

Andrey Okladnikov is a square peg at Baltika

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrey Okladnikov

“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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Baltika turn down Spartak Moscow for Maxim Petrov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Maxim Shnaptsev turns Sochi down

“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.

Market

Vanderlei asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Baltika

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Baltika is running low.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Maxim Rudakov

Baltika and Orenburg have settled on $410.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 5 in, 1 out at Baltika

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Baltika sign Andrey Okladnikov for $510.0K

The paperwork is done: Andrey Okladnikov joins from Yenisey in a deal worth $510.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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

30 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

CSKA Moscow come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Baltika spend $590.0K to raise the standard

This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $590.0K has been paid because Kirill Bogdanets is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Market

Baltika sell Yegor Lyubakov for $360.0K

Yegor Lyubakov has left for Dinamo Makhachkala in a $360.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Transfer targets

Tyumen tell Baltika: Vitaly Shitov is not for sale

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.

Market

Eyes on Maxim Shnaptsev again

The phone has started ringing about Maxim Shnaptsev again, and this time the name on the line is Arsenal Tula. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sergey Varatynov

“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.

Squad

The formation has left Javohir Esonqulov behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Baltika will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

29 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Dinamo Moscow come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Terms done: Yegor Lyubakov is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Makhachkala waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Baltika is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Baltika sign Javohir Esonqulov for $2.6M

The paperwork is done: Javohir Esonqulov joins from Merani in a deal worth $2.6M. Now comes the harder part.

Squad

Remember the name: Arseny Popushoy

He is 20, he is averaging 6.71, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Transfer targets

Baltika make their move for Kirill Bogdanets

$590.0K on the table at Volna. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Stavropol tell Baltika: Danila Shilov is not for sale

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 terraces

Baltika spend $2.6M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.6M for Javohir Esonqulov, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javohir Esonqulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

28 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

3 goals for Aymane Mourid

The match ball belongs to Aymane Mourid, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Evgeny Latyshonok

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Baltika turn down Flora for Konstantin Shiltsov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Javohir Esonqulov

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Baltika have done the hard part with Merani, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

An offer of $3.8M for Otar Mchedlidze

Baltika have gone to Tskhinvali with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

The dugout

Vanderlei says Baltika went back on their word

“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.

Market

Yegor Lyubakov puts it in writing

“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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Baltika walk away from Danila Shilov

$260.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Stavropol were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

In brief

27 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Kerim Mrabti wins it after the whistle should have gone

90 minutes played. Kerim Mrabti found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Akhmat went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Market

Honved come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Vanderlei 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 Baltika can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Baltika end the wait against Akhmat

It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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 ratings

Eldar Ćivić runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Transfer targets

KAMAZ tell Baltika: Saminu Abdullahi is not for sale

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.

Match

Baltika see off Akhmat

Three points for Baltika, 2‑1 the final word against Akhmat in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Kerim Mrabti at his very best

Marked 8.75. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Baltika.

In brief

26 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Baltika

8 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.

Market

Baltika turn down Zalgiris for Stefan Kovač

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Rodrigo Brasília 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 Baltika can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Boardroom

Baltika agree a free transfer for Alexandr Mironov

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Match

Sochi take the points off Baltika

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Rodrigo Brasília wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

No hiding place for Chinonso Offor

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chinonso Offor, and the manager let it.

In brief

25 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Baltika

Position 14 and 17 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.

Squad

8 saves: Evgeny Latyshonok was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Baltika turn down Dinamo Batumi for Yegor Golenkov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Match

No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Maxim Petrov

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Alexandr Filin 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.

Match

Dinamo Moscow take the points off Baltika

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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 dugout

Radomir Khrenov: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

24 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Aymane Mourid scores twice — 9.17

Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Baltika say no — this time

The offer from Flora for Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Baltika

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.

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok stands alone

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.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Baltika agree a free transfer for Rostislav Ogienko

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Squad

Yegor Golenkov is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.23 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Yegor Golenkov’s goal not enough for Baltika

Yegor Golenkov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Lokomotiv Moscow, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Market

Makar Chugunov steps up from the Baltika academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Makar Chugunov 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.

In brief

23 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Vanderlei 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 Baltika can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The wait goes on for Baltika

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.

The dugout

Kirill Stepanov says Baltika went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Maxim Petrov 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.

Boardroom

Baltika agree a free transfer for Daniil Martovoy

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Player ratings

Eldar Ćivić runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Baltika come up short against Rubin

Rubin left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Vanderlei wants to go home

“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 Baltika know it.

The dugout

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 0‑1 Radomir Khrenov left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

22 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok keeps Baltika in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

4 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yegor Golenkov is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.23 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aymane Mourid

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Kerim Mrabti in the eights

A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Late, late show earns Baltika a point

Minute 95, against CSKA Moscow, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

In brief

21 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baltika and Krasnodar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Match

Yegor Golenkov’s goal not enough for Baltika

Yegor Golenkov scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Krasnodar, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Gassama 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.

Squad

Chinonso Offor 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

One of those days for Yegor Golenkov

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev reaches 200 appearances

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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Yegor Golenkov

11 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

The dugout

Radomir Khrenov: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

Sergey Varatynov 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

3 goals for Aymane Mourid

The match ball belongs to Aymane Mourid, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad

Maxim Petrov 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Aymane Mourid at his very best

Marked 9.82. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Baltika.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Gassama 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.

Match

Yegor Golenkov’s goal not enough for Baltika

Yegor Golenkov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Orenburg, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Market

One of our own: Semyon Emelyanov joins the Baltika first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Semyon Emelyanov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kirill Zinovich

“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 dugout

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 Radomir Khrenov to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

19 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Ivan Kukushkin keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Baltika may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Maxim Petrov

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Yegor Golenkov in the eights

A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Chinonso Offor

“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.

Squad

Maxim Shnaptsev signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Maxim Shnaptsev commits to Baltika for another 4 years.

Match

Yegor Golenkov rescues a point for Baltika

It needed Yegor Golenkov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Akron, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Squad

A step back for Eduardo Anderson at Baltika

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

In brief

18 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The drought breaks for Baltika

16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nizhniy Novgorod were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Eldar Ćivić

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Nathan Gassama 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.

Squad

Alexandr Filin 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Kerim Mrabti at his very best

Marked 9.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Baltika.

The terraces

One of their own: Mikhail Ryadno

He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Match

Yegor Golenkov sends Baltika past Nizhniy Novgorod

It finished 2‑0, and it was Yegor Golenkov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Baltika.

Player ratings

Yegor Golenkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings

The game went through Mingiyan Beveev — 7.57

Marked 7.57 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

In brief

17 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win

16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok keeps Baltika in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Gassama 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 ratings

One of those days for Kerim Mrabti

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Baltika refuse to lose to Krylya Sovetov

A point taken on 85 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.

The dugout

Vanderlei 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.

Match

Baltika and Krylya Sovetov take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Radomir Khrenov on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

In brief

16 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Baltika

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.

Match

Baltika taken apart

2‑6 to Spartak Moscow, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Aymane Mourid asks to leave Baltika

“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.

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok stands alone

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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.

Match

8 goals as Baltika and Spartak Moscow go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Baltika and Spartak Moscow, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

Aymane Mourid stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Aymane Mourid and Baltika agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kirill Nikishin

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Nikishin, and the manager let it.

In brief

15 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win

14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Maxim Petrov

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Gassama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

One of our own: Luka Demidov joins the Baltika first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luka Demidov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kirill Bozhenov

“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.

Match

The half-term report on Baltika

Position 12, 11 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

Match

Baltika and Rostov take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Radomir Khrenov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Baltika dressing room was either.

In brief

14 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

13 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Baltika

0‑6 against Zenit, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Evgeny Latyshonok

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baltika and Zenit in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Gassama 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Chinonso Offor 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 dugout

No hiding place for Fahd Moufi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fahd Moufi, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Baltika 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 dugout

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 0‑6 Radomir Khrenov left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

13 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Eldar Ćivić

Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Maxim Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Evgeny Latyshonok 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.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Match

Late, late show earns Baltika a point

Minute 92, against Dinamo Makhachkala, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

The dugout

Maxim Shnaptsev is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

Match

Honours even between Baltika and Dinamo Makhachkala

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Player ratings

Maxim Shnaptsev gives it away

There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Baltika lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Looking ahead The leaders are next for Baltika
  • The dugout A promise honoured for Sergey Varatynov
12 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

11 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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 ratings

Eldar Ćivić runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Nathan Gassama 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.

Match

Baltika come up short against Akhmat

Akhmat left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

No hiding place for Chinonso Offor

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chinonso Offor, and the manager let it.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Kerim Mrabti

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baltika told Kerim Mrabti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Baltika

13 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 dugout

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 0‑1 Radomir Khrenov left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

11 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

10 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Eldar Ćivić beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Yegor Lyubakov: 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.” Baltika have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Matías Giménez turns down Baltika

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Maxim Shnaptsev 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.

Squad

Stefan Kovač signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stefan Kovač commits to Baltika for another 3 years.

Squad

Nathan Gassama 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.

Match

Late, late show earns Baltika a point

Minute 94, against Sochi, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

The dugout

No hiding place for Stefan Kovač

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Kovač, and the manager let it.

In brief

10 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

9 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Match

The cup run ends for Baltika

1‑2 against Alania, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Player ratings

Maxim Petrov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Diego Pereira signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Pereira and Baltika agree another 1 years.

Match

Baltika rescue it on 87 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Dinamo Moscow had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Baltika 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.

Player ratings

Yegor Golenkov was the difference for Baltika

Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

In brief

9 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Baltika

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Gassama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Baltika against Lokomotiv Moscow

0‑1 to Lokomotiv Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Radomir Khrenov: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Eldar Ćivić

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Ilja Petrov 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.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Ilja Petrov

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Moscow in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Market

The Yegor Golenkov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Golenkov signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

8 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Eldar Ćivić was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 32. 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.

Match

6 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Market

Spartak Moscow come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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.

Match

Rubin take the points off Baltika

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The terraces

One of their own: Maxim Shnaptsev

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Maxim Shnaptsev in the eights

A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Mikhail Ryadno stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikhail Ryadno and Baltika agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kirill Bozhenov

“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.

In brief

7 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Both of them Kerim Mrabti's — 9.05

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Krylya Sovetov come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match

No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 20 in, 17 out at Baltika

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Imeda Ashortia deal

Baltika ran out of time with Andijon. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Chinonso Offor signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chinonso Offor commits to Baltika for another 3 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Baltika

Chinonso Offor 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Evgeny Latyshonok

“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.

Market

One of our own: Bogdan Eskov joins the Baltika first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bogdan Eskov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

6 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Danil Goryachev

21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets

Baltika agree $3.0M for Yegor Pogostnov

The clubs have shaken hands with Lokomotiv Moscow; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Squad

A day Kerim Mrabti will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok stands alone

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.

Market

Ivan Kukushkin says no to Fakel

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ivan Kukushkin had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Transfer targets

Baltika bid $2.8M for Imeda Ashortia

The offer went to Andijon this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Eyes on Mingiyan Beveev again

The phone has started ringing about Mingiyan Beveev again, and this time the name on the line is Krylya Sovetov. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

Match

4 matches without a win for Baltika

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

5 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Danil Goryachev damages knee ligaments — 29 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 ratings

Eldar Ćivić was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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.

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok stands alone

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.

The terraces

Baltika sell a favourite for $2.6M

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Nikolay Titkov was one of the reasons people came, and $2.6M does not replace that by itself.

Market

Baltika sell Nikolay Titkov for $2.6M

Nikolay Titkov has left for Dinamo Moscow in a $2.6M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Baltika turn down Sokol for Ivan Kukushkin

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Vanderlei due for a Baltika medical

Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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.

Match

Orenburg take the points off Baltika

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

4 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

The unthinkable, invoiced: Brayan Gil sold

Rubin arrived with $8.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.

Market

Baltika say no — this time

The offer from Spartak Moscow for Nathan Gassama 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.

The terraces

A $8.2M sale, and a town that did not want it

Brayan Gil has gone, the accounts have $8.2M 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 targets

Baltika rebuffed over Ruslan Kul'

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and Baltika go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Kirill Davidenko 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.

Market

Eyes on Nikolay Titkov again

The phone has started ringing about Nikolay Titkov again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Moscow. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

The dugout

Kirill Davidenko 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.

Squad

Words at Baltika training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Match

Konstantin Shiltsov rescues a point for Baltika

It needed Konstantin Shiltsov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Akron, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

3 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Brayan Gil scores twice — 9.14

Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Fakel come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Eyes on Nathan Gassama again

The phone has started ringing about Nathan Gassama again, and this time the name on the line is Spartak Moscow. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

A falling-out at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Maxim Petrov

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Ivan Ignatjev

Baltika asked and Spartak Trnava 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 dugout

Evgeny Latyshonok 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.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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.

Match

Late, late show earns Baltika a point

Minute 91, against Nizhniy Novgorod, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

In brief

2 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A day Brayan Gil will not forget

4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Baltika run riot against Krylya Sovetov

6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Both of them Yegor Golenkov's — 9.90

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Baltika turn down Rubin for Brayan Gil

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Kerim Mrabti is a medical away from Baltika

The deal with AEK 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.

Squad

Brayan Gil signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brayan Gil and Baltika agree another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Baltika

Eldar Ćivić 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 ratings

Maxim Petrov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baltika and Krylya Sovetov in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

1 Edition

The Baltika Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Evgeny Latyshonok keeps Baltika in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Baltika

1‑4 against Spartak Moscow, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Player ratings

Arseny Popushoy, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26

A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

Eyes on Mingiyan Beveev again

The phone has started ringing about Mingiyan Beveev again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Minsk. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Fahd Moufi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fahd Moufi and Baltika agree another 3 years.

Squad

Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Alexandr Lomovitskiy

Baltika asked and Torpedo-BelAZ 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Arseny Popushoy

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Squad

Mingiyan Beveev 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.

In brief