Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Arda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Gomel asked and ND Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Gomel have made the call to Botev Vratsa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Gomel have made the call to Stade Malien. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Anton Semenov
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gomel has been clear about where Alexandr Savitskiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Denis Nikonorov has just signed for Gomel, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Dmitriy Emeljanov 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gomel has been clear about where Dmitriy Emeljanov stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Gomel are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Simanenka signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Gleb Protasenya is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gomel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitriy Emeljanov is on it.
In brief
The dugoutOleg Kovalev asks for a word with the manager
Denis Laptev 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Arseniy Achapovskiy is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Gomel than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gomel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Denis Laptev 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Simanenka signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A 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 Denis Kovalevich has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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 Denis Kovalevich has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutAnton Semenov knocks on the manager's door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Artem Polushko 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.
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 Anton Semenov is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Polushko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Laptev 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Simanenka signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Gomel will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutOleg Kovalev knocks on the manager’s door
SquadQuestions about Kirill Burov on the training pitch
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Gomel will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danila Kalatsey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Laptev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Lazarev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Evgeniy Tishkov 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Gomel than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Simanenka signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Gomel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Gomel will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Denis Kovalevich is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAnton Semenov asks for a word with the manager
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danila Kalatsey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Denis Laptev 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Maksim Signevich 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uladzislau Hleb 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Denis Laptev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ivan Pavlov has agreed terms with Volna Pinsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.60, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Pashevich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Gomel will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Dmitriy Emeljanov is on it.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Gomel close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 3 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dynamo Kyiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Gomel will try again when the window opens; Vitebsk may not be selling by then.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eduard Balanovich 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Vitaliy Gordeichuk 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 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Isloch had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Alexandr Savitskiy will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Gomel escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artem Polushko has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
$400.0K on the table at Vitebsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Simanenka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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 Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PWD Bamenda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gomel asked and Paide said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitriy Emeljanov provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Gleb Protasenya, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
Gomel asked and Cibalia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Denis Laptev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ND Gorica have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rostov is saying, and nobody at Gomel is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Dmitriy Nizhnik has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Gomel have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yahor Malevich is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vitaliy Rios is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
12 seasons and 245 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The offer from Khimik for Damir Shaikhtdinov 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.
Denis Laptev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vadim Martinkevich 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.