The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Roman Zobnin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Karmaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at BATE that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Roman Zobnin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Podstrelov 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yuriy Kovalev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitriy Podstrelov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at BATE 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
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 Yan Shumskiy is on it.
In brief
The dugoutTin Štricelj asks for a word with the manager
Roman Zobnin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
Something was said to Nikita Karmaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at BATE would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Bochko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BATE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Podstrelov 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.
Minute 92, against Dinamo Minsk, 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Daniil Marugin.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Étoile Carouge have kept their man, and BATE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Egor Kress has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Moscow is saying, and nobody at BATE is enjoying the guessing.
Rafał Mamla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Yan Shumskiy again, and this time the name on the line is Smorgon. BATE are listening politely and promising nothing.
BATE asked and Motor Lublin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
“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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at BATE until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Roman Zobnin 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
In brief
SquadWords at BATE training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BATE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Roman Zobnin 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.
BATE asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Nikita Nikonorov again, and this time the name on the line is Lida. BATE are listening politely and promising nothing.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ruslan Teverov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tin Štricelj
56 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BATE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Dinamo Moscow 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.
A season average of 7.17 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. BATE know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nizhniy Novgorod have kept their man, and BATE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
BATE offered $14.6M; Charlton Athletic said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
BATE had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The name of Yan Shumskiy has come up in conversations BATE were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Roman Zobnin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
BATE have gone to Charlton Athletic 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 first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dnepr Mogilev; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Nizhniy Novgorod, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Zobnin 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.
Add another name to the list: Slonim have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nikita Nikonorov. The answer from BATE has not changed — yet.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BATE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
BATE asked and Leganés 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikita Neskoromnyi did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Bochko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BATE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“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 BATE, and it is not being withdrawn.
50 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BATE can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kirill Kaplenko scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. BATE know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Rafał Mamla 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.
In brief
SquadWords at BATE training over how hard people work
“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 BATE, and it is not being withdrawn.
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Dinamo Brest 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrohimhalil Yo'ldoshev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Charlton Athletic have kept their man, and BATE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match24 Jul 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for BATE. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BATE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Roman Zobnin 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.
Add another name to the list: Slonim have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nikita Nikonorov. The answer from BATE has not changed — yet.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Yuriy Kovalev 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikita Neskoromnyi did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7.81, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Roman Zobnin 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BATE people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gil Vicente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A season average of 7.09 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. BATE know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
BATE offered $130.0K; Dinamo Brest said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Dinamo Minsk paid $220.0K and BATE took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BATE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Up for the corner, and Tin Štricelj delivers — 7.14
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tin Štricelj scored, was marked 7.14, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The deal with Spartak Moscow 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.
BATE offered $300.0K; Dinamo Brest said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Dmitriy Podstrelov from Dinamo Minsk for $1.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and BATE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BATE people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Dinamo Minsk have accepted the money. What BATE do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Arseniy Skopets was one of the reasons people came, and $300.0K does not replace that by itself.
“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 BATE, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $147.9K — a club that wants Denis M. Kovalevich enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Dinamo Brest 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.
$130.0K on the table at Dinamo Brest. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Two goals and a mark of 7.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikita Neskoromnyi did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Nikita Karmaev 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.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
A brace, and Taras Gagloev takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Taras Gagloev provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Egor Grivenev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Kirill Kaplenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Taras Gagloev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BATE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Teverov 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mikita Stasevich after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
9 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Bochko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BATE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nino Marcelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jubal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nino Marcelli. 1‑0 against Naftan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. BATE will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
8 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A brace, and Veldin Hodža takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Veldin Hodža provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Nino Marcelli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21
A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Nino Marcelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jubal 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. El Mehdi Maouhoub has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8.73. 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.
7 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A brace, and Veldin Hodža takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Veldin Hodža provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. BATE know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. El Mehdi Maouhoub provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jubal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.90 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Nino Marcelli 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. El Mehdi Maouhoub has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Teverov 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 ratings19 Apr 2027
Veldin Hodža was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikita Neskoromnyi did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Torpedo-BelAZ, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Yuriy Kovalev 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Makar Anokhin
Squad8 new faces, and BATE are still learning each other
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BATE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ruslan Teverov. 2‑0 against Molodechno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ibrohimhalil Yo'ldoshev is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nino Marcelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrohimhalil Yo'ldoshev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Molodechno next, and one man in the BATE dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Andrey Ivlev 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one BATE will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugoutTin Štricelj dropped after a run of poor form
32Edition
The BATE Gazette
8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentTriumph
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Andrey Ivlev takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrey Ivlev provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BATE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at BATE is enjoying the guessing.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
BATE had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sochi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikita Karmaev has just signed for BATE, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
BATE close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal that would have taken Kirill Apanasevich to Orsha has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to BATE with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Baranovichi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BATE is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BATE can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $81.7K — a club that wants Ilya Tishurov enough to be asked twice.
BATE had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nino Marcelli 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 chase for Ilya Tishurov ended with $77.0K changing hands and Osipovichi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BATE people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. BATE have done the hard part with Dinamo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Osipovichi 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.
BATE offered $83.0K; Gomel said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ivlev 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.
BATE asked and Krylya Sovetov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BATE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $91.0K — a club that wants Egor Yudenko enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Nikolay Bochko has come up in conversations BATE were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
BATE asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matic Dimič is living that version at BATE, and it tends to show in the first month.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. BATE have done the hard part with Lokomotiv Gomel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Isloch keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Add another name to the list: Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nikita Neskoromnyi. The answer from BATE has not changed — yet.
Nino Marcelli 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.
BATE asked and Dnepr Mogilev said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ivlev 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.
Yuriy Kovalev 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutDanila Sokol knocks on the manager's door
Andrey Ivlev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at BATE 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nino Marcelli 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Alexey Shalashnikov is a BATE player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andrey Ivlev 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. BATE will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nikolay Mirskiy is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Pavel Dubovskiy is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Arseniy Skopets has written the date down.
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.
Nino Marcelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
Nobody at BATE 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one BATE will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Yan Shumskiy is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BATE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BATE. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at BATE the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
22 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andrey Ivlev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Danila Sokol trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Andrey Ivlev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at BATE 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
The dugoutDanila Sokol asks for a word with the manager
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Kaplenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BATE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yuriy Kovalev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Marugin 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Artem Dzyuba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Ivlev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nino Marcelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Yan Shumskiy is on it.
Artem Dzyuba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BATE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee BATE could ask drops and the wages Egor Kress can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BATE. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Ruslan Teverov on the training pitch
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Marugin 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at BATE, another week without a signature from Egor Kress.
Nobody at BATE will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nino Marcelli 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Andrey Ivlev 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Nobody at BATE 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at BATE than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. BATE told Andrey Ivlev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Mikhnyuk is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Marugin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Ivlev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
19 new faces, and BATE 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BATE. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ivlev 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at BATE who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nino Marcelli did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Artem Dzyuba 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dukla Prague have kept their man, and BATE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Smorgon will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The match ball belongs to El Mehdi Maouhoub, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nino Marcelli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal that would have taken Kirill Apanasevich to Neman has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to BATE with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Artem Dzyuba 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.
A 3‑2 win over Smorgon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrey Ivlev 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.
BATE asked and Napredak 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Shvedchikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BATE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Andrey Ivlev 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Yuriy Kovalev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Partizan have kept their man, and BATE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Kirill Apanasevich has come up in conversations BATE were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Anton Kovalev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vadim Konyukhov has just signed for BATE, and for once the answer mattered.
Andrey Ivlev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. BATE know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Dukla Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A loan enquiry to Slovan Bratislava: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrey Ivlev did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Andrey Solovey has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means BATE have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kaplenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
BATE asked and Schalke 04 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Makar Anokhin
7.03, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deal with Akhmat Grozny 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.
Artem Dzyuba 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ibrohimhalil Yo'ldoshev from Neftchi for $2.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Dmitriy Girs has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means BATE have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. BATE were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Vladislav Yatskevich was one of the reasons people came, and $410.0K does not replace that by itself.
$2.8M on the table at Neftchi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $68.2K — a club that wants Ricky Ngatchou enough to be asked twice.
The deal with Dinamo Moscow 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Kaplenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BATE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A mark of 7.73 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ruslan Teverov has just signed for BATE, and for once the answer mattered.
The deal with Lokomotiv Gomel 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiv Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Artem Dzyuba 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Egor Kress has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Kovalev 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladislav Varaksa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.