From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Apr 2029
Astrakhan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 69 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Danil Sizov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Karen Muradyan 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 terraces16 Apr 2029
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.
Match14 Apr 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was David Kokoev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Looking ahead16 Apr 2029
The big one: Neftyanik come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Astrakhan will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Nobody on the pitch touched David Kokoev
7.59, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Astrakhan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout9 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Kirill Pluzhnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Kudryashov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Apr 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
The borrowing at Astrakhan reaches $3.9M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Apr 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Valentin Grishin knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
$84.0K of the owner's money at Astrakhan
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Karen Muradyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
No signings allowed at Astrakhan
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Wages eat 111% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market2 Apr 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dmitry Vladimirov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Mar 2029
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 17 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market26 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Valentin Grishin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Nart left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 Vladlen Sidorov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Maxim Kostyuk's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 Valentin Grishin is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Mar 2029
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 17. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market19 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match19 Mar 2029
66 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Danil Sizov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Kudryashov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Stanislav Efimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Mar 2029
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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semyon Radostev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Mar 2029
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
20 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match10 Mar 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
Market12 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Kirill Pluzhnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Mar 2029
Three points for Astrakhan, 1‑0 the final word against Chaika M in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Chances created: 14. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Ninety minutes of Dmitry Vladimirov at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Astrakhan.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
The borrowing at Astrakhan reaches $3.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Mar 2029
Whatever happens, Astrakhan do not lose
15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$78.7K from the owner keeps Astrakhan afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Karen Muradyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Feb 2029
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match24 Feb 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Window shuts: 1 in, 4 out at Astrakhan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ilja Levchenkov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market19 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Feb 2029
Astrakhan are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 58 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match17 Feb 2029
Astrakhan make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Astrakhan have 5 straight wins of it.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Astrakhan have done the hard part with Kuban, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Valentin Grishin 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 ratings19 Feb 2029
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.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
Astrakhan asked and Irtysh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Feb 2029
Astrakhan make home a hard place to visit
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match10 Feb 2029
Astrakhan cannot stop winning
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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Danil Sizov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Astrakhan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kuban have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Feb 2029
Three points for Astrakhan, 1‑0 the final word against Pobeda in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Feb 2029
Renat Malomusov damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Everything agreed with Kuban, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match3 Feb 2029
Astrakhan cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The owner puts $71.0K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Astrakhan asked and Kuban said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Ivan Kudryashov 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 terraces5 Feb 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. David Kokoev 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match27 Jan 2029
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
17 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match27 Jan 2029
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Jan 2029
A 1‑0 win over Angusht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market29 Jan 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Stanislav Efimov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Astrakhan.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Jan 2029
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
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.
Match22 Jan 2029
Astrakhan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 46 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Jan 2029
Three points for Astrakhan, 2‑0 the final word against Torpedo Miass in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad22 Jan 2029
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jan 2029
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match13 Jan 2029
Astrakhan make home a hard place to visit
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match13 Jan 2029
Whatever happens, Astrakhan do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Stanislav Efimov 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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Astrakhan are $3.7M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
96% of the income goes out in wages at Astrakhan
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Valentin Grishin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Astrakhan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Jan 2029
Renat Malomusov damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 ratings8 Jan 2029
A brace, and David Kokoev takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Kokoev provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match6 Jan 2029
Astrakhan make home a hard place to visit
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match6 Jan 2029
Whatever happens, Astrakhan do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$78.2K of the owner's money at Astrakhan
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Stanislav Efimov 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 terraces8 Jan 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jan 2029
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market1 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Astrakhan have had the benefit of it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Rasul Zhangurazov 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.
Match30 Dec 2028
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ryan Scicluna, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Dec 2028
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Two goals and a mark of 7.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match25 Dec 2028
Astrakhan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 38 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match23 Dec 2028
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Valentin Grishin 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.
Match23 Dec 2028
It finished 3‑2, and it was Kirill Pluzhnikov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Dec 2028
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Astrakhan's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Astrakhan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Levchenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
Astrakhan are $3.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad18 Dec 2028
No place for Karen Muradyan in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Astrakhan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Valentin Grishin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Astrakhan 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Lozano, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Kirill Pluzhnikov asks for a word with the manager
-
Match
Point won or two lost for Astrakhan?
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match9 Dec 2028
Astrakhan make home a hard place to visit
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match9 Dec 2028
4 matches without a win for Astrakhan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Astrakhan are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
“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.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
Astrakhan cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.04, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
$66.9K of the owner's money at Astrakhan
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Dec 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Nov 2028
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Stanislav Efimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Levchenkov, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead27 Nov 2028
The big one: Neftyanik come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Astrakhan will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Match25 Nov 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Shakhter Donetsk leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match20 Nov 2028
31 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Astrakhan is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
The Astrakhan debt reaches $3.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Maxim Kostyuk 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
Valentin Grishin asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
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 Renat Malomusov is on it.
Market20 Nov 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Stanislav Efimov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2028
Renat Malomusov damages knee ligaments — 101 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
0‑1 to Druzhba, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
No signings allowed at Astrakhan
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
Wages swallow 113% of the Astrakhan income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Nov 2028
Renat Malomusov damages knee ligaments — 108 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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 ratings6 Nov 2028
David Kokoev, 21, steals the show — 9.61
Marked 9.61 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad6 Nov 2028
David Kokoev takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Match4 Nov 2028
Astrakhan make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match4 Nov 2028
Astrakhan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Astrakhan have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Valentin Grishin 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
A 3‑1 win over Nart, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Oct 2028
Spartak Nalchik will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Astrakhan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from David Kokoev at 21 — 9.54
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Kokoev did not need any: 9.54, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The match ball belongs to David Kokoev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
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 7.41 for the rest of it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match28 Oct 2028
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Valentin Grishin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Kudryashov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces30 Oct 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match21 Oct 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Chaika M, and it could have been more.
Match23 Oct 2028
25 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from David Kokoev at 21 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Kokoev did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match21 Oct 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Astrakhan and Chaika M in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Kirill Pluzhnikov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.63. 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Stanislav Efimov 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 terraces23 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Kokoev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Stanislav Efimov 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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
No signings allowed at Astrakhan
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Tomás Lozano
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astrakhan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentin Grishin signs something — a contract at Astrakhan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market16 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Oct 2028
Dinamo Makhachkala ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match7 Oct 2028
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match7 Oct 2028
3 matches without a goal for Astrakhan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
David Kokoev 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.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
Wages eat 116% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The owner puts $65.4K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Kudryashov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Sep 2028
0‑2 to Rubin Yalta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentin Grishin, and the manager let it.
Market2 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vladlen Sidorov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Ilja Levchenkov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ilja Levchenkov 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match23 Sep 2028
Three points for Astrakhan, 1‑0 the final word against Sevastopol in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
Astrakhan are $3.3M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Market25 Sep 2028
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market25 Sep 2028
Abzal Suyumbayev is 16, and Astrakhan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.26 on the card, and the Astrakhan support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2028
Chastening afternoon for Astrakhan
A 0‑3 beating by Pobeda was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market18 Sep 2028
“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.
Match16 Sep 2028
The run is over for Astrakhan
15 matches without defeat, and then Pobeda. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Ivan Kudryashov 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.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout11 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Window shuts: 11 in, 5 out at Astrakhan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Valentin Grishin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Makhachkala have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Fedor Galochkin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Wages eat 96% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
A loan move for Bogdan Sheiko is in the works
Astrakhan have made the call to Dinamo Makhachkala. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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 Valentin Grishin is on it.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 15. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match2 Sep 2028
3‑0, and Maxim Kostyuk took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Astrakhan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market4 Sep 2028
The deal that would have taken Fedor Semenov to Pobeda has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Astrakhan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
$46.5K from the owner keeps Astrakhan afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pobeda have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Aug 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
Match26 Aug 2028
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 ratings28 Aug 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market28 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Astrakhan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fedor Galochkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout28 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Prokopjev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Aug 2028
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Aug 2028
3 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.
Match16 Aug 2028
Astrakhan march on in the cup
Legion are out and Astrakhan go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 Aug 2028
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market21 Aug 2028
“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 dugout21 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Barnaul is saying, and nobody at Astrakhan is enjoying the guessing.
Match19 Aug 2028
4 matches without a win for Astrakhan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Astrakhan are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sibir have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
-
Squad
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
-
Boardroom
No signings allowed at Astrakhan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Aug 2028
“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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The deal with Dinamo Bryansk 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 targets14 Aug 2028
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“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 Astrakhan know it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
No place for David Kokoev in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Astrakhan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renat Malomusov 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
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 91% of everything Astrakhan earn
-
The dugout
The manager makes an example of Renat Malomusov
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Aug 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Aug 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Khimik, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo St Petersburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Ivan Kudryashov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.87
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 6.87, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Valentin Grishin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
$30.2K from the owner keeps Astrakhan afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikolai Nesterov
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match29 Jul 2028
Nobody wants to play Astrakhan right now
5 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Astrakhan asked and Spartak Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fedor Galochkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Prokopjev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match29 Jul 2028
Three points for Astrakhan, 1‑0 the final word against Legion in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The borrowing at Astrakhan reaches $3.1M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikolai Nesterov
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match22 Jul 2028
Nobody wants to play Astrakhan 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.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market24 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Dmitriev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The deal with Kvant 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Astrakhan asked and Dinamo Bryansk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Jul 2028
Three points for Astrakhan, 2‑0 the final word against Kuban Holding in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Jul 2028
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market17 Jul 2028
“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 dugout17 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match15 Jul 2028
Nobody wants to play Astrakhan 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.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Astrakhan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Astrakhan asked and Pobeda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fedor Galochkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The deal with Irtysh 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 dugout10 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sibir have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fedor Galochkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 86% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Dmitry Shilov 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 Dmitry Shilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout3 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market3 Jul 2028
So close: Fedor Semenov’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Pobeda moved on, Fedor Semenov reports back to Astrakhan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The owner puts $41.6K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Mark Polushin 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Astrakhan are $3.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Valentin Grishin'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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Renat Malomusov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Volgar 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Vologda: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Jun 2028
70 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Dmitriev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Danila Zolotorenko 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Astrakhan cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astrakhan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Astrakhan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Valentin Grishin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Yelisey Krivokhizhin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan move for Elias Gjestvang is in the works
Astrakhan have made the call to Chaika. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astrakhan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad19 Jun 2028
No place for Luca Gatt in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Astrakhan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Astrakhan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Konstantin Kolesnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zolotorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Valentin Grishin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Jun 2028
Tomás Lozano is 20, and Astrakhan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Wages eat 85% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The formation has left Tomás Lozano behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Astrakhan will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Maxim Kostyuk 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 Maxim Kostyuk is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jun 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Astrakhan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The owner puts $30.6K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
Astrakhan are $3.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Valentin Grishin 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 May 2028
Astrakhan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 70 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout29 May 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market29 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom29 May 2028
No signings allowed at Astrakhan
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad29 May 2028
Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Danila Zolotorenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout22 May 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 May 2028
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 May 2028
Dmitry Shilov 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 dugout22 May 2028
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.
Market22 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Astrakhan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market22 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fedor Galochkin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 May 2028
Pavel Rakitin 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 Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 May 2028
“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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages eat 93% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout15 May 2028
Maxim Malysh knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astrakhan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Astrakhan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
Valentin Grishin damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
The dugout8 May 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Bolonin and Astrakhan agree another 2 years.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The owner puts $10.0K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 May 2028
Yelisey Krivokhizhin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Astrakhan are $2.9M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Levchenkov, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 May 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 May 2028
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 May 2028
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.
Match29 Apr 2028
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match1 May 2028
Astrakhan finish in position 3
70 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match1 May 2028
70 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout1 May 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market1 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Ninety minutes of Kirill Pluzhnikov at his very best
Marked 9.66. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Astrakhan.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2028
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
The terraces24 Apr 2028
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.
Match22 Apr 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ivan Kudryashov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Squad24 Apr 2028
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad24 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
7.62, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Astrakhan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Renat Malomusov 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Vladlen Sidorov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Grishin
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Wages eat 92% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Marked 7.45. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match15 Apr 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Shakhter Donetsk leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vladlen Sidorov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Astrakhan dressing room was either.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Grishin
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.81, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match8 Apr 2028
Nobody wants to play Astrakhan 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match8 Apr 2028
A 1‑0 win over Angusht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
Astrakhan are $2.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
“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
-
The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Valentin Grishin's mistake
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Market
The Ivan Kudryashov story refuses to die
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Apr 2028
Valentin Grishin damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market3 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Dmitriev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The owner puts $10.9K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The terraces3 Apr 2028
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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kirill Pluzhnikov. 2‑0 against Torpedo Miass, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market3 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Rasul Zhangurazov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Astrakhan.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Astrakhan cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Dmitry Shilov
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Astrakhan will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Mark Polushin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Rakitin, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Bolonin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Danila Zolotorenko'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.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Astrakhan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Mar 2028
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad20 Mar 2028
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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The team sheet said everything about Alexandr Bolonin
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 Alexandr Bolonin.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Mar 2028
Valentin Grishin damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Match11 Mar 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The borrowing at Astrakhan reaches $2.7M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $2.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Vladlen Sidorov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Grishin
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market6 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sergey Dmitriev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targets6 Mar 2028
Astrakhan asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match4 Mar 2028
Sochi 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Bolonin, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Yelisey Krivokhizhin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Feb 2028
Valentin Grishin damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
5‑0, and Maxim Kostyuk took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Astrakhan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market28 Feb 2028
Maxim Kostyuk 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 Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Feb 2028
Astrakhan make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Astrakhan have 4 straight wins of it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Astrakhan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Astrakhan asked and Dinamo Vologda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Feb 2028
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.
Market21 Feb 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match19 Feb 2028
Nobody wants to play Astrakhan 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Astrakhan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Grishin
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Astrakhan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match12 Feb 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match12 Feb 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Kirill Pluzhnikov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
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 terraces14 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Fedor Galochkin 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.
In brief
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Match
Astrakhan settle it inside twenty minutes
-
Squad
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
-
Squad
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Feb 2028
Valentin Grishin damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
The deal with Spartak Nalchik 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Astrakhan did not have in the autumn.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Byazrov 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Mark Polushin 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Three points for Astrakhan, 2‑0 the final word against Zarya Lugansk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Grishin
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Jan 2028
“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 dugout31 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Dmitriev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sochi keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match29 Jan 2028
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Jan 2028
Astrakhan caught on 87 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Spartak Nalchik scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Marked 7.60 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Astrakhan had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2028
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Konstantin Kolesnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Valentin Grishin 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Kostyuk. 2‑1 against Druzhba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages swallow 97% of the Astrakhan income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vladlen Sidorov, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Grishin
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Byazrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Malysh, and the manager let it.
Match15 Jan 2028
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 dugout17 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vladlen Sidorov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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 Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Byazrov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Danila Zolotorenko 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.
Match8 Jan 2028
Astrakhan caught on 91 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dinamo Makhachkala 2 scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match8 Jan 2028
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 ratings10 Jan 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.57 on the card, and the Astrakhan support went home talking about one name.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Astrakhan
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Boardroom
Astrakhan have to sell first
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jan 2028
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market3 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market3 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.14, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Danila Zolotorenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Valentin Grishin knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Astrakhan — 7.98
1 for Semyon Radostev, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market27 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Artur Byazrov 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ivan Kudryashov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Match25 Dec 2027
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ivan Kudryashov in the middle of it, and Kuban Holding unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Wages eat 125% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Valentin Grishin now has 24 of them across 81 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match18 Dec 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rasul Zhangurazov, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Bolonin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valentin Grishin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market20 Dec 2027
Astrakhan have made Semyon Radostev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 Dec 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 7.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces13 Dec 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Artur Byazrov at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Astrakhan.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Dec 2027
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad13 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Dec 2027
The half-term report on Astrakhan
Position 5, 32 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market6 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Dec 2027
Neftyanik left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Everybody at Astrakhan saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match4 Dec 2027
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Kirill Pluzhnikov had Astrakhan level again within 2 minutes, and Neftyanik never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Nov 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at Astrakhan
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad29 Nov 2027
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Byazrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentin Grishin, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 129% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
Renat Malomusov damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Angusht spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match20 Nov 2027
A 1‑0 win over Angusht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 7.41. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Maxim Malysh gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Astrakhan told Semyon Radostev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Dmitry Shilov 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
Renat Malomusov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Astrakhan 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.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mark Polushin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Astrakhan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market15 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Astrakhan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Dmitry Shilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market8 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Dmitriev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Levchenkov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A mark of 7.09, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Valentin Grishin is on it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vladlen Sidorov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Astrakhan dressing room was either.
Match6 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Torpedo Miass will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Dinamo Stavropol, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market1 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at Astrakhan
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Mark Polushin 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Bolonin, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Wages swallow 112% of the Astrakhan income
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Boardroom
Inquest at Astrakhan
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match23 Oct 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Chaika M, and it could have been more.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A brace, and Mark Polushin takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mark Polushin provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match25 Oct 2027
Astrakhan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Chances created: 17. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Match23 Oct 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Astrakhan and Chaika M, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Oct 2027
10 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.
Match13 Oct 2027
The cup run ends for Astrakhan
0‑1 against Dinamo Makhachkala, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match16 Oct 2027
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Valentin Grishin 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentin Grishin, and the manager let it.
Match16 Oct 2027
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Astrakhan had all but put away. Sochi 2 will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Match16 Oct 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vladlen Sidorov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astrakhan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Oct 2027
Danil Sizov 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 Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Danil Sizov: 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.” Astrakhan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Rakitin, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dmitry Shilov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Astrakhan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Malomusov
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astrakhan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Astrakhan
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market4 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Oct 2027
There were 6 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match2 Oct 2027
Still nobody has beaten Astrakhan
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Bolonin commits to Astrakhan for another 2 years.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 2‑0 win over Rubin Yalta, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match25 Sep 2027
Astrakhan make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Match25 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, Astrakhan do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Maxim Kostyuk’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A mark of 7.64, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Sep 2027
Dmitry Shilov 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 Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yelisey Krivokhizhin 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Sep 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Pobeda leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
Astrakhan can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The formation has left Pavel Rakitin behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Astrakhan will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vladlen Sidorov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Dmitry Shilov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Astrakhan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 7 in, 5 out at Astrakhan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match11 Sep 2027
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
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.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Astrakhan asked and Orenburg 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 terraces13 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Artur Byazrov 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Mark Polushin 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market6 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Astrakhan have done the hard part with Fakel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Bulat Musaev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
99% of the income goes out in wages at Astrakhan
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A loan enquiry to Alania: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A brace, and Alexandr Bolonin takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Bolonin provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Astrakhan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astrakhan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Astrakhan have done the hard part with Kuban, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Valentin Grishin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sokol have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Bolonin. 2‑0 against Spartak Nalchik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Aug 2027
Astrakhan win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Dinamo Kirov will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market23 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Astrakhan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Aug 2027
The run at home goes on for Astrakhan
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Vladimirov, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Aug 2027
A goal on 88 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
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 targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fakel have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentin Grishin, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Danila Zolotorenko 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Renat Malomusov 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Irkutsk are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Astrakhan will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.55, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
The numbers do not look good at Astrakhan
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Bulat Musaev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match7 Aug 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Alexandr Bolonin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astrakhan.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
93% of the income goes out in wages at Astrakhan
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renat Malomusov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The Astrakhan board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Kostyuk 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match31 Jul 2027
A 1‑0 win over Legion, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match24 Jul 2027
Kuban Holding left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Danil Sizov has come up in conversations Astrakhan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Mark Polushin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vladlen Sidorov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renat Malomusov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Fakel 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Mark Polushin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Kuban, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market19 Jul 2027
So close: Dmitry Belov’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kuban Holding moved on, Dmitry Belov reports back to Astrakhan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
KDV Tomsk wanted more than $48.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
4 academy graduates step up at Astrakhan
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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market19 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Danila Kiselyov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ruslan Dementyev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Dmitriev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astrakhan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The offer went to Baltika 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Valentin Grishin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Bulat Musaev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
109% of the income goes out in wages at Astrakhan
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Market5 Jul 2027
Neftyanik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Astrakhan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artur Karpov, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Chaika 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2027
Zvezda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Astrakhan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nizhniy Novgorod keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Dinamo Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chelyabinsk have kept their man, and Astrakhan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renat Malomusov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Kuban: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market28 Jun 2027
The name of Artur Karpov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Astrakhan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Angusht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 2027
Maxim Kostyuk 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 Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Astrakhan have gone to Nizhniy Novgorod 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Dinamo Moscow wanted more than $72.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Zvezda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Danil Sizov. The answer from Astrakhan has not changed — yet.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Shilov, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Danila Zolotorenko 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Renat Malomusov 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The name of Valentin Grishin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Astrakhan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astrakhan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Astrakhan now.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 116% of everything Astrakhan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Danila Zolotorenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Renat Malomusov 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
Dmitry Shilov 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The Maxim Malysh story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Malysh signs something — a contract at Astrakhan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market14 Jun 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ilja Levchenkov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout7 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Maxim Malysh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jun 2027
A season away well spent by Mark Polushin
32 games, 5 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Astrakhan now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Danil Sizov and Astrakhan agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
A promise honoured for Danil Sizov
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Astrakhan told Danil Sizov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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. Yelisey Krivokhizhin has moved up it.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Artur Karpov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 May 2027
Bulat Musaev 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 Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Astrakhan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Kolesnikov, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Levchenkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch31 May 2027
32 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astrakhan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renat Malomusov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bulat Musaev, and the manager let it.