From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
90 days out for Evgeniy Barsukov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Konstantin Lipnitskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Zayats was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 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.
The dugout1 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 Stanislav Kleschuk is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Evgeniy Barsukov out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gomel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Egor Yudenko 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Silinskiy signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
106 days out for Evgeniy Barsukov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match18 Oct 2027
Gomel are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Egor Yudenko: 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.” Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Oct 2027
Egor Yudenko has one foot out of the 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
113 days out for Evgeniy Barsukov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Tishkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Egor Yudenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Evgeniy Barsukov out for 122 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gomel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Oct 2027
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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timofey Simanenka commits to Gomel for another 5 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Egor Yudenko 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 dugout4 Oct 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 Stanislav Kleschuk is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
130 days out for Evgeniy Barsukov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market27 Sep 2027
The shirt still fits. Kirill Cheburakov is back at Gomel, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Maxim Polyakov pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Oleg Kovalev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market27 Sep 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Silinskiy signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Anton Semenov 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 Anton Semenov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Evgeniy Barsukov out for 137 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gomel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Sep 2027
Gomel up to position 2
44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market20 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market20 Sep 2027
Only the photograph left for Egor Yudenko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Egor Yudenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pavel Pashevich and Gomel agree another 3 years.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Timofey Simanenka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Gomel close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 8 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Tishkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market13 Sep 2027
The Minsk deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alexandr Ryzhchenko reports back to Gomel with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 20, Timofey Simanenka is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Gomel have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Timofey Simanenka has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market6 Sep 2027
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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Everything agreed with Nizhniy Novgorod, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Nizhniy Novgorod have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Egor Yudenko makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market30 Aug 2027
Gomel say no — this time
The offer from Naftan for Oleg Kovalev 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market30 Aug 2027
The name of Egor Yudenko has come up in conversations Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Gomel asked and Rotor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
A 2‑1 win over Uni-X Labs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout30 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Aug 2027
Gomel refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 40 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Osipovichi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nizhniy Novgorod, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Volna Pinsk left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market23 Aug 2027
The name of Oleg Kovalev has come up in conversations Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Pashevich, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Egor Yudenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Aug 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Baranovichi, and it could have been more.
Match16 Aug 2027
The view from the top for Gomel
40 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market16 Aug 2027
Egor Yudenko has one foot out of the 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Gomel asked and Nizhniy Novgorod said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
At 20 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Alexandr Ryzhchenko has come up in conversations Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad16 Aug 2027
12 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bumprom Gomel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout9 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
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.
Match7 Aug 2027
After 8 games, Gomel finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Lida; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Savitskiy commits to Gomel for another 3 years.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Gomel asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Arseniy Achapovskiy 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
Lida take the points off Gomel
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 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. Gomel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Jul 2027
8 unbeaten for Gomel
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Gomel did not have in the autumn.
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The deal with Karviná is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Gomel asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Damir Shaikhtdinov and Gomel agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Jul 2027
There were 8 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Pavel Sergutko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sergutko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olimpija Ljubljana keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match24 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Gomel
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 Jul 2027
The run at home goes on for Gomel
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad26 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Egor Yudenko again, and this time the name on the line is Lida. Gomel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Gomel asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Jul 2027
No mercy from Gomel
Niva will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Gomel were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match19 Jul 2027
Gomel up to position 3
33 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
No sign of nerves from Timofey Simanenka at 20 — 8.16
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timofey Simanenka did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Evgeniy Barsukov, 37, rolls back the years — 8.31
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Gomel
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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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
Market12 Jul 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 Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slonim waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout12 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gomel asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Gomel have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gomel have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Pavel Pashevich pops up at the right end — 7.84
7.84, 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Gomel asked and Slavia Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Pashevich
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match3 Jul 2027
After 4 games, Gomel finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Smorgon; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Egor Yudenko in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Gomel have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Jun 2027
Gomel make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gomel have 4 straight wins of it.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Pavel Sergutko: 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.” Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Jun 2027
Gomel say no — this time
The offer from Naftan for Oleg Kovalev 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Pavel Sergutko has one foot out of the 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fakel, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Ostrovets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Egor Yudenko. The answer from Gomel has not changed — yet.
Match26 Jun 2027
The run at home goes on for Gomel
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nomme Kalju have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Jun 2027
Gomel up to position 3
26 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market21 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gomel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Savitskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match19 Jun 2027
Gomel make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gomel have 3 straight wins of it.
Match19 Jun 2027
Three points for Gomel, 3‑1 the final word against Osipovichi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Arseniy Achapovskiy 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 terraces21 Jun 2027
Gomel supporters have found a favourite in Kirill Burov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Kirill Burov 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
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
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Match12 Jun 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Kirill Leonovich’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gomel.
Squad14 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Jun 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ihar Ihnatovich 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aliaksandr Malevich 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Vadim Martinkevich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
Match14 Jun 2027
The half-term report on Gomel
Position 4, 23 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Jun 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Ostrovets, and it could have been more.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The match ball belongs to Kirill Leonovich, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Evgeniy Barsukov, 36, rolls back the years — 8.08
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vladislav Lazarev is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
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.” Ivan Filipenko, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 May 2027
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.
Match29 May 2027
The run is over for Gomel
8 matches without defeat, and then Uni-X Labs. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad31 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 May 2027
Uni-X Labs left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Lazarev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Inquest at Gomel
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 May 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ivan Filipenko to a room that had heard them before.
Squad31 May 2027
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 May 2027
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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Marked 7.66 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match22 May 2027
8 unbeaten for Gomel
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Gomel did not have in the autumn.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The terraces24 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-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.
Match22 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Volna Pinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout24 May 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Marked 7.77. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match15 May 2027
Whatever happens, Gomel 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.
Market17 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Ryzhchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match15 May 2027
The goals have deserted Gomel
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gomel can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad17 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Pashevich
“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 dugout17 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ivan Filipenko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 May 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.
Match8 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Gomel
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Egor Yudenko in a row with a teammate
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 dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igor Zayats, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 May 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 dugout10 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ivan Filipenko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match8 May 2027
Point won or two lost for Gomel?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Lida? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniil Silinskiy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gomel needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 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 Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gomel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmitriy Emeljanov and Gomel agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Arseniy Achapovskiy 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
“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 ratings3 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.24 on the card, and the Gomel support went home talking about one name.
The dugout3 May 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.” Ivan Filipenko chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Three points for Gomel, 3‑1 the final word against Bumprom Gomel in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Igor Zayats 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 terraces26 Apr 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 dugout26 Apr 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 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Evgeniy Tishkov and Gomel agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ivan Filipenko was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gomel dressing room was either.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Evgeniy Barsukov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match17 Apr 2027
Gomel and Niva cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Niva came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
Bumprom Gomel next, and one man in the Gomel dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout12 Apr 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 Stanislav Kleschuk is on it.
Market12 Apr 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Oleg Kovalev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Gomel.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Gomel will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Artem Karatay decides it from twelve yards
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match31 Mar 2027
Gomel bow out of the cup
Bumprom Gomel go through and Gomel go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Oleg Kovalev has been here 13 seasons
245 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Anton Semenov at 21 — 7.95
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anton Semenov did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Evgeniy Barsukov, 36, rolls back the years — 7.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gomel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Pavel Sergutko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sergutko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Mar 2027
Anger at Gomel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Pashevich
“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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
A test against the best for Gomel
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Smorgon.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Egor Yudenko 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 Egor Yudenko is on it.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniil Silinskiy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gomel needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Oleg Kovalev: 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.” Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Gomel against Belshina
0‑2 to Belshina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Kirill Leonovich ran the middle of the pitch — 6.51
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.51, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Egor Yudenko 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
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pavel Pashevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denis Kovalevich commits to Gomel for another 3 years.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Kirill Burov
“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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Late, late show earns Gomel a point
Minute 89, against Osipovichi, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Egor Yudenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Mar 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ivan Filipenko was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Gomel dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Mar 2027
No mercy from Gomel
Lokomotiv Gomel will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Gomel were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Timofey Simanenka at 20 — 9.49
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timofey Simanenka did not need any: 9.49, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad8 Mar 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market8 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Pavel Sergutko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sergutko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market8 Mar 2027
The deal that would have taken Oleg Kovalev to Naftan has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Gomel with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match6 Mar 2027
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Evgeniy Barsukov and Gomel agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Igor Zayats and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Anger at Gomel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market1 Mar 2027
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.
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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 1 out at Gomel
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Mar 2027
Gomel say no — this time
The offer from Lokomotiv Gomel for Alexandr Ryzhchenko 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
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Georgiy Kukushkin and Gomel agree another 4 years.
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The deal with NK Domzale is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Evgeniy Barsukov
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Gomel will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Gomel asked and Koper said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Lazarev, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Neman: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout22 Feb 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
Uneasy
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 Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Feb 2027
BATE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gomel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market15 Feb 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 Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Stanislav Kleschuk'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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Gomel will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kirill Burov commits to Gomel for another 4 years.
Market8 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: BATE have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Egor Yudenko. The answer from Gomel has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets8 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Burov, and the manager let it.
Market8 Feb 2027
Lokomotiv Gomel are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Gomel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Georgiy Kukushkin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Anger at Gomel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market1 Feb 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 Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Maxim Drozdov has come up in conversations Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Artur Sagitov is in the works
Gomel have made the call to Arsenal Tula. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Egor Yudenko 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 dugout25 Jan 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.
The dugout25 Jan 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gomel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Stanislav Kleschuk 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timofey Simanenka’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 Daniil Makhnach has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timofey Simanenka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jan 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexandr Ryzhchenko is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Kirill Leonovich and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Alexey Gavrilovich's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gomel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Gomel
Georgiy Kukushkin 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market21 Dec 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timofey Simanenka’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Gomel will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 Daniil Makhnach has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Simanenka 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hleb Korzun 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hleb Filipenko 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uladzislau Kislyak 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hleb Rios 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Gomel
Oleg Kovalev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pavel Pashevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Evgeniy Tishkov
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
It is over: Gomel are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Market7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Gomel
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Kovalevich, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anton Semenov commits to Gomel for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Alexey Gavrilovich 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Denis Kovalevich 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gomel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Stanislav Kleschuk 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniil Makhnach
“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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timofey Simanenka’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Gomel
Position 14 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout16 Nov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Artem Karatay 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 Artem Karatay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Nov 2026
The shop window has Ivan Pavlov in it
Gomel have let the market know Ivan Pavlov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sergey Matveychik is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artem Kendysh
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gomel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Georgiy Kukushkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Gavrilovich, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artem Kendysh
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gomel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Georgiy Kukushkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Viktor Sotnikov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Viktor Sotnikov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Alexey Gavrilovich'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.
Market2 Nov 2026
No place for Ivan Pavlov in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ivan Pavlov has his answer from Gomel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market2 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gomel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Egor Yudenko has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Kovalevich, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
24 new faces, and Gomel 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Gomel
Oleg Kovalev 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Stanislav Kleschuk 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Artem Kendysh damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Match19 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Gomel
Position 14 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Gomel's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Viktor Sotnikov delivers — 7.57
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Viktor Sotnikov scored, was marked 7.57, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.84, and 2 involvements.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gomel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Denis Laptev
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gomel is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Viktor Sotnikov and Gomel agree another 3 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Sergutko
“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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Dinamo Brest next, and one man in the Gomel dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Gomel
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Gomel are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Egor Yudenko is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Pashevich
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivan Filipenko after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Gomel's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match26 Sep 2026
Gomel hit back inside 4 minutes
Isloch held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Gomel answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Kirill Leonovich to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Isloch, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Gomel
Kirill Leonovich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Gomel against Slutsk
1‑2 to Slutsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.79. 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Ivan Filipenko to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy Emeljanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Chances created: 9. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Georgiy Kukushkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Gomel 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Oleg Kovalev in a row with a teammate
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 dugout14 Sep 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.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Slutsk next, and one man in the Gomel dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ivan Pavlov 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 Ivan Pavlov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Slavia Sofia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Gomel asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Gomel
20 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Oleg Kovalev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Gavrilovich, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Egor Yudenko has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Volga is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match29 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Gomel against BATE
0‑1 to BATE, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Pavel Pashevich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kirill Burov
“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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“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
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slonim waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Egor Troyakov 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 Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
Atlantas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gomel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No thanks: Luka Račić rejects the move
Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kauno Zalgiris, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
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.
The dugout24 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Gomel out of the cup
Niva ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad17 Aug 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Timofey Simanenka at 19 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timofey Simanenka did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
7.81, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Evgeniy Barsukov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gomel.
Transfer targets17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Gomel
Igor Zayats 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
Crisis
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Gomel is enjoying the guessing.
Match8 Aug 2026
2‑3 to Molodechno, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Gomel asked and Atlantas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Igor Zayats in a row with a teammate
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hleb Nekhaichik 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anton Chalavach is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ihar Nekhaichik 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stanislau Makas 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Gomel
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
There were 12 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Silinskiy commits to Gomel for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Kirill Leonovich and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Molodechno have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Anton Semenov. The answer from Gomel has not changed — yet.
Match1 Aug 2026
Dinamo Minsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Burov, and the manager let it.