From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ryazan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Ryazan until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market28 Feb 2028
The deal that would have taken Artem Yanin to Dinamo Stavropol has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Ryazan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Ansor Khabibov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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 dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Denis Perfilov
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Rodion Andreev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodion Andreev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Dmitry Kudryk 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Wages swallow 92% of the Ryazan 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
When it matters, Artem Yanin plays
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
David Sangaré has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. David Sangaré keeps the shirt for now, at Ryazan's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cherepovets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Feb 2028
Pyotr Polunin 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The numbers do not look good at Ryazan
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 dugout14 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Feb 2028
Timofey Belyaev damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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
Orel take the points off Ryazan
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Feb 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseny Yurtaev 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 dugout7 Feb 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 1‑2 Daniil Korsakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
Nikita Satarov 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 Ryazan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Jan 2028
1‑2 to Dinamo St Petersburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vsevolod Yefremov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A season average of 7.21 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Ninety minutes of Nikita Pogrebnev at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Maxim Mishutin
“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 ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Daniil Korsakov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Jan 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Pogrebnev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Jan 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 1‑2 Daniil Korsakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages eat 91% of everything Ryazan 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
4 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market17 Jan 2028
Arseniy Sychev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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 terraces17 Jan 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Znamya Truda made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout17 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.80, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Danil Gordeev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danil Gordeev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match8 Jan 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ryazan and Strogino in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match8 Jan 2028
Strogino made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces10 Jan 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.
Match8 Jan 2028
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of David Sangaré
“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 ratings10 Jan 2028
Islamzhan Nasyrov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match1 Jan 2028
5 matches without a win for Ryazan
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ryazan are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vsevolod Yefremov 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Rodina M left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Jan 2028
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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match25 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Ryazan's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ryazan has to find a result from somewhere.
Market27 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Pogrebnev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 8.05 — 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Wages swallow 98% of the Ryazan 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Arsenal Tula 2 leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market20 Dec 2027
Arseniy Sychev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match18 Dec 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
Ryazan counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ryazan now.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vsevolod Yefremov 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Evgeni Bobylev
“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 dugout20 Dec 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daniil Korsakov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Dec 2027
8 unbeaten for Ryazan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Ryazan did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Danil Gordeev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
8 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and David Sangaré has given nobody the chance.
The dugout13 Dec 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
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.” Daniil Korsakov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Nikita Satarov 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Chances created: 10. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Dec 2027
Whatever happens, Ryazan 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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 Dec 2027
The run at home goes on for Ryazan
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match4 Dec 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Zenit Penza leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
A promise honoured at Ryazan
Something was said to Arseny Yurtaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Nov 2027
4‑1, and Ansor Khabibov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ryazan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match29 Nov 2027
Ryazan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 36 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.
Market29 Nov 2027
Rodion Andreev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match27 Nov 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ryazan
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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 9.04 — 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.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Pogrebnev 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 129% of everything Ryazan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market22 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at Ryazan
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 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
The run at home goes on for Ryazan
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match20 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Stepan Obryvkov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ryazan.
The dugout22 Nov 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 ratings22 Nov 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.80 on the card, and the Ryazan support went home talking about one name.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
Pyotr Zhukov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Alexandr Barkov
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The dugout
Evgeny Yevgenjev knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Nov 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.
Market15 Nov 2027
Danil Gordeev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Nov 2027
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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces15 Nov 2027
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.
Match13 Nov 2027
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ryazan had all but put away. Rotor 2 will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ryazan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match13 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
David Sangaré 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Artem Yanin 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 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 Maxim Mishutin is on it.
Market8 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Sangaré’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match1 Nov 2027
Ryazan up to position 2
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market1 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Rodion Andreev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodion Andreev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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 Oct 2027
Metallurg made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces1 Nov 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Marked 8.38 — 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.
Match1 Nov 2027
Halfway: Ryazan sit in position 2
29 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
109% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market25 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Oct 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Ryazan
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vsevolod Yefremov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Pogrebnev 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Roman Shishkov for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ryazan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match23 Oct 2027
Orel made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager makes an example of Arseny Yurtaev
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Nikita Satarov asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Oct 2027
A 2-goal lead gone for Ryazan
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Dinamo St Petersburg kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ryazan will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Market18 Oct 2027
Danil Gordeev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Match16 Oct 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
A promise honoured at Ryazan
Something was said to Svyatoslav Tses' and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout18 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniil Korsakov was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Ryazan dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Oct 2027
Ryazan out of the cup
Torpedo Moscow ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ryazan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Sangaré, and the manager let it.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Doors closed at Ryazan
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout11 Oct 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Daniil Korsakov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match4 Oct 2027
Ryazan up to position 3
22 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market4 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Rodion Andreev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodion Andreev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match2 Oct 2027
Znamya Truda made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseny Yurtaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 112% of everything Ryazan 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Pyotr Zhukov 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
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match25 Sep 2027
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 ratings27 Sep 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad27 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Ryazan counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ryazan now.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksei Khrenov 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 terraces27 Sep 2027
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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Marked 8.40 — 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Daniil Korsakov kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market20 Sep 2027
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Ryazan against Rodina M
0‑2 to Rodina M, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
David Sangaré 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 David Sangaré is on it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Evgeny Yevgenjev 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 Sep 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Looking ahead20 Sep 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Strogino in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Artem Borovitskiy delivers — 7.99
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Artem Borovitskiy scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Ryazan until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Three points for Ryazan, 3‑1 the final word against Arsenal Tula 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksei Khrenov 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 terraces13 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Islamzhan Nasyrov at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Stepan Obryvkov at his very best
Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2027
There were 9 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartak Nalchik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Dinamo Bryansk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksei Khrenov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 115% of everything Ryazan 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
“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
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match28 Aug 2027
Ryazan 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.
Squad30 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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.
Match28 Aug 2027
A 2‑0 win over SKA Khabarovsk 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market30 Aug 2027
The name of Arseniy Sychev has come up in conversations Ryazan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 8.05 — 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
Triumph
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Match18 Aug 2027
Ryazan march on in the cup
Cherepovets are out and Ryazan go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Rodion Andreev at 15 — 7.98
The hardest thing about being 15 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rodion Andreev did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout23 Aug 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
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.
Match21 Aug 2027
A 1‑0 win over Zenit Penza, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Artem Yanin at his very best
Marked 8.54. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ryazan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
When it matters, David Sangaré plays
-
The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Nikita Satarov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Aug 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Match14 Aug 2027
Salyut left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market16 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Rodion Andreev again, and this time the name on the line is Spartak Nalchik. Ryazan are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout16 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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 Daniil Korsakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
Pyotr Zhukov 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Islamzhan Nasyrov signs something — a contract at Ryazan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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
Triumph
Squad9 Aug 2027
Evgeny Yevgenjev 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ryazan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match7 Aug 2027
Whatever happens, Ryazan do not lose
10 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.
Market9 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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Ryazan get the job done against Kvant
A 1‑0 win over Kvant, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Market2 Aug 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ryazan
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad2 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The name of Arseniy Sychev has come up in conversations Ryazan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match31 Jul 2027
The run is over for Ryazan
4 matches without defeat, and then Rotor 2. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yaroslav Martynyuk has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout26 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.
Market26 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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Artem Yanin 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market26 Jul 2027
Ryazan have let the market know Yaroslav Martynyuk can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Denis Perfilov 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 Ryazan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 2027
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Ryazan 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
4 academy graduates step up at Ryazan
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
$10.0K was the most the club would pay and SKA Khabarovsk were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Pogrebnev 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
Squad12 Jul 2027
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages eat 87% of everything Ryazan 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Nikolay Zhuzhnev has left for Chelyabinsk in a $29.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad5 Jul 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Ryazan sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The dugout5 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Ryazan than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
Evgeny Yevgenjev damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Ryazan have made Artem Yanin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market28 Jun 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ryazan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
Evgeny Yevgenjev damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Jun 2027
Ryazan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 55 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Borovitskiy, and the manager let it.
Market21 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Evgeny Yevgenjev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2027
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Arseniy Sychev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 90% of everything Ryazan 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Perfilov, and the manager let it.
Market14 Jun 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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 Ryazan have had the benefit of it.
Market7 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Zhuzhnev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Yanin
“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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Ryazan counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ryazan now.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Nikita Satarov 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 Ryazan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Jun 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 May 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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market31 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 May 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 dugout31 May 2027
Nikita Satarov 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 Ryazan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ryazan told Islomjon Xasanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 May 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match24 May 2027
Ryazan up to position 3
55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market24 May 2027
Rodion Andreev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 2027
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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
Squad17 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 May 2027
Arseniy Sychev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
92% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
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.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Yanin, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 May 2027
The numbers do not look good at Ryazan
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 May 2027
Evgeni Bobylev 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 Evgeni Bobylev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Pyotr Polunin
“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.
Market3 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes Artem Yanin a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ryazan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market3 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Yaroslav Martynyuk may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ryazan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Apr 2027
Ryazan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 55 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 72 days on the sidelines for Svyatoslav Tses', and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ryazan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages swallow 103% of the Ryazan 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Arseny Yurtaev
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Nikita Satarov 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Sangaré’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Apr 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 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ryazan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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 Apr 2027
Nikita Satarov 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 Nikita Satarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodion Andreev, and the manager let it.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islamzhan Nasyrov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Yevgenjev
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ryazan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Apr 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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Yanin
“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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ansor Khabibov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Maxim Mishutin 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 Ryazan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Nikita Satarov plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match29 Mar 2027
Ryazan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 55 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Rodion Andreev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodion Andreev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Pogrebnev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikita Pogrebnev signs something — a contract at Ryazan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Artem Yanin has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Artem Yanin has written the date down.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Arseny Yurtaev 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Ryazan have made Yaroslav Martynyuk available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Mar 2027
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market22 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Arseniy Sychev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ryazan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Evgeni Bobylev
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Alexandr Golovnya 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 114% of the Ryazan 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Sangaré’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Ansor Khabibov
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Ryazan would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 140 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Mar 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Golovnya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ryazan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad8 Mar 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
$107.0K on the table at Ryazan
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Pyotr Zhukov
“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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The name of Evgeny Yevgenjev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ryazan say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“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
Market1 Mar 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.
Match1 Mar 2027
Ryazan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 55 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 2 in, 0 out at Ryazan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Mar 2027
Ryazan say no — this time
The offer from Cherepovets for Rodion Andreev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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 targets1 Mar 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.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The clock did what SKA Khabarovsk would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Mishutin 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Luki-Energiya are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ryazan will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ryazan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market22 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The name of Arseniy Sychev has come up in conversations Ryazan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Yanin 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages eat 121% of everything Ryazan 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Borovitskiy, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Nikita Satarov 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 Nikita Satarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Sangaré’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ryazan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Feb 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ryazan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Artem Yanin 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Belts tighten at Ryazan
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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islamzhan Nasyrov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ryazan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Maxim Mishutin 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
Triumph
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 53. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.82, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ryazan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Nikita Pogrebnev
21 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
$26.0K settles it between the clubs for Maxim Pechenkin
SKA Khabarovsk have accepted the money. What Ryazan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ryazan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ryazan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ryazan have 3 straight wins of it.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Nikita Pogrebnev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ryazan.
Squad8 Feb 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
3‑0, and Nikita Pogrebnev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ryazan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ryazan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match1 Feb 2027
Ryazan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 52 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
19 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market1 Feb 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 Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Match30 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Ryazan 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Evgeny Lisitsin has come up in conversations Ryazan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
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 ratings25 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.03, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market25 Jan 2027
Lokomotiv come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ryazan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
18 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Stepan Obryvkov at his very best
Marked 8.62. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 124% of everything Ryazan earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market18 Jan 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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market18 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan Aliyev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market18 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luka Lipatov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to German Solovyov, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Yanin 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
4 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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
Upbeat
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Nikita Pogrebnev
16 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 Jan 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 Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Pogrebnev. 4‑3 against Strogino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match9 Jan 2027
Nikita Pogrebnev among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Nikita Pogrebnev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ryazan and Strogino.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Satarov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
14 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match2 Jan 2027
Three points for Ryazan, 1‑0 the final word against Rodina M in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for David Sangaré
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Sangaré has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ryazan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Daniil Korsakov could afford to be generous.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Nikita Satarov 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 Ryazan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
206% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexandr Korolev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market28 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Evgeni Kolesnikov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market28 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Savely Ponomarev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Artem Yanin 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Dinamo Bryansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Yanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ansor Khabibov'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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Ryazan lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Nikita Pogrebnev
13 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 2‑0 win over SKA Khabarovsk 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Stepan Obryvkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Nikita Pogrebnev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Daniil Korsakov, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Dec 2026
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 ratings7 Dec 2026
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev 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 terraces7 Dec 2026
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ryazan make home a hard place to visit
8 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Golovnya is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Ansor Khabibov at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
After 10 games, Ryazan finally taste it again
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Salyut; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.87, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match28 Nov 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ryazan and Salyut in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ansor Khabibov scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Salyut, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
215% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Golovnya 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
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Match23 Nov 2026
Ryazan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 32 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match21 Nov 2026
10 unbeaten for Ryazan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Ryazan did not have in the autumn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ryazan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ryazan hit back inside 1 minutes
Kvant held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Ryazan answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Ryazan support went home talking about one name.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ryazan and Kvant take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Ryazan 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A goal and an assist for Ansor Khabibov — 7.67
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.67 beside his name.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ryazan and Rotor 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match14 Nov 2026
Rotor 2 made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Satarov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Islamzhan Nasyrov at his very best
Marked 8.52. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ryazan.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Islomjon Xasanov: 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.” Ryazan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islomjon Xasanov 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ryazan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Maxim Mishutin 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Market9 Nov 2026
Two seats in the directors' box were spoken for, and the name in the notebook was Ansor Khabibov. Nothing has been offered yet.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 unbeaten for Ryazan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Ryazan did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 215% of everything Ryazan 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ryazan
Alexandr Golovnya 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Metallurg made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ryazan had the best player on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for David Sangaré
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Sangaré has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ryazan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniil Korsakov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Arseny Yurtaev
“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
Squad26 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match26 Oct 2026
Ryazan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 25 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ryazan
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ryazan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stepan Obryvkov. 1‑0 against Orel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Artem Yanin
“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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.79 on the card, and the Ryazan support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ryazan
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Ryazan are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.22. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniil Korsakov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ryazan dressing room was either.
Market19 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nikolay Zhuzhnev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ryazan.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Oct 2026
Stepan Obryvkov wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Stepan Obryvkov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Spartak Tambov went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nikolay Zhuzhnev: 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.” Ryazan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Spartak Tambov made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ryazan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
282% of the income goes out in wages at Ryazan
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ryazan had all but put away. Znamya Truda will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.92 on the card, and the Ryazan support went home talking about one name.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Islomjon Xasanov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Perfilov
“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
Match28 Sep 2026
Ryazan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 17 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ryazan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ryazan have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Strogino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Islamzhan Nasyrov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. 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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Top-of-the-table clash for Ryazan
Znamya Truda next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Golovnya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniil Korsakov on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ryazan scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ansor Khabibov. 3‑2 against Rodina M, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ansor Khabibov 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Islamzhan Nasyrov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Mishutin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniil Korsakov on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Nikita Pogrebnev takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Pogrebnev provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Danil Gordeev out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ryazan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Ryazan close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Arsenal Tula 2 made Ryazan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match12 Sep 2026
At last: Ryazan win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Arsenal Tula 2. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vsevolod Yefremov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Evgeny Lisitsin has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
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Squad
8 new faces, and Ryazan are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Arseny Yurtaev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 11 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑4 to Dinamo Bryansk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad7 Sep 2026
21 days out for Danil Gordeev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ryazan can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Ryazan
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ryazan are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Ryazan
Yaroslav Martynyuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ryazan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Yanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Ryazan
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Danil Gordeev breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Evgeny Yevgenjev delivers — 7.94
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Evgeny Yevgenjev scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Ryazan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ryazan are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ryazan
Evgeny Yevgenjev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Ryazan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Yanin 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yaroslav Martynyuk has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ryazan.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Artem Yanin
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
A test against the best for Ryazan
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The dugout
Yaroslav Martynyuk asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Ryazan out
Out, 0‑5 to Dinamo St Petersburg, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Aug 2026
36 days out for Danil Gordeev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Ryazan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ryazan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Ryazan
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Danil Gordeev breaks a bone — 43 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Ryazan against Salyut
1‑2 to Salyut, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ryazan
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 1‑2 Daniil Korsakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑2 against Kvant, and it could have been more.
Squad10 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad10 Aug 2026
50 days out for Danil Gordeev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ryazan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ryazan
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 Aug 2026
8 goals as Ryazan and Kvant go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Ryazan and Kvant, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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 terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Satarov 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
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Rotor 2, and it could have been more.
Squad3 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Ryazan — 7.80
1 for Evgeny Yevgenjev, marked 7.80, 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.94, and involved in 3 of his side's goals.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islamzhan Nasyrov and Ryazan agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Ryazan
David Sangaré 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ryazan and Rotor 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.60, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
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.