“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bumprom Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Maxim Samotoy 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Kirill Sidorenko leaves Bumprom Gomel the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Maxim Samotoy 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
420% of the income goes out in wages at Bumprom Gomel
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gleb Vershinin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bumprom Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Sidorenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bumprom Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 The request is on a desk at Bumprom Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bumprom Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
José Sifuentes 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
500% of the income goes out in wages at Bumprom Gomel
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bumprom Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Bumprom Gomel know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Kaplunov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Maxim Samotoy 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 standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bumprom Gomel, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Bumprom Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bumprom Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
José Sifuentes 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
500% of the income goes out in wages at Bumprom Gomel
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bumprom Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Bumprom Gomel know 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 Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bumprom Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maxim Samotoy 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Maxim Samotoy 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bumprom Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bumprom Gomel spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bumprom Gomel, another week without a signature from Dmitriy Krivosheev.
Bumprom Gomel opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Maxim Samotoy stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitriy Krivosheev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bumprom Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
José Sifuentes 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
366% of the income goes out in wages at Bumprom Gomel
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bumprom Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Lokomotiv Gomel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bumprom Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Bumprom Gomel would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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 Bumprom Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
José Sifuentes 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kirill Sidorenko obliged against Naftan. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bumprom Gomel.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Dmitriy Krivosheev again, and this time the name on the line is Lida. Bumprom Gomel are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bumprom Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Kirill Sidorenko has come up in conversations Bumprom Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bumprom Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Maxim Samotoy 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 name of Maxim Vospukov has come up in conversations Bumprom Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 8.71 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.