FCI Tallinn U18

Estonian Meistriliiga U18
20 Jul 2033
Wednesday
Process
364 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

18 Jul 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Alex Bugaj asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

In brief

Back issues
363 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

11 Jul 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

FCI Tallinn say no — this time

The offer from Tammeka for Andero Kaares 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.

Market

Paolo Bonetti has said yes to Tulevik

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCI Tallinn have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Paolo Bonetti puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Eyes on Alex Bugaj again

The phone has started ringing about Alex Bugaj again, and this time the name on the line is Tulevik. FCI Tallinn are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Karol Pikk stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Karol Pikk and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

Sergei Sappinen knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCI Tallinn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Boardroom

FCI Tallinn keep producing them

78 graduates from an academy now rated 3 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.

In brief

362 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

4 Jul 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

13 saves: Mirko Castagnini was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

FCI Tallinn finish in position 7

21 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Tristan Toomas Teeväli

FCI Tallinn and Flora have settled on $370.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

Only the photograph left for Paolo Bonetti

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paolo Bonetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Tallinn the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

David signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David and FCI Tallinn agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for FCI Tallinn against Levadia

0‑2 to Levadia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“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.

In brief

361 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

27 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Andero Kaares takes the match ball home

4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Market

Terms done: Alex Bugaj is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sillamae Kalev waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCI Tallinn is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Squad

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Andero Kaares at his very best

Marked 9.91. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FCI Tallinn.

Transfer targets

Flora tell FCI Tallinn: Tristan Toomas Teeväli is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

FCI Tallinn refuse to lose to Sillamae Kalev

A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.

Match

FCI Tallinn share the spoils with Sillamae Kalev

A 4‑4 draw with Sillamae Kalev leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Player ratings

Karl Ojamaa runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

360 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

20 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Andero Kaares agrees terms with Tammeka

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCI Tallinn people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Match

FCI Tallinn bow out of the cup

Nomme Kalju go through and FCI Tallinn go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Player ratings

Andero Kaares scores twice — 9.19

Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Karl Ojamaa beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Sillamae Kalev watching Alex Bugaj

The interest is real enough to have reached print. FCI Tallinn have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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.

Match

FCI Tallinn get the job done against Parnu

A 2‑0 win over Parnu, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini makes it 25 clean sheets

25 shut-outs in 77 appearances. A keeper’s career is counted in games where nothing happened, and none of it happened by accident.

In brief

359 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

13 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Mirko Castagnini

There were 10 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.

Market

Tammeka come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCI Tallinn did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Player ratings

Ilya Vikhrov shuts the door

Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Edoardo Biffi

“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.

Match

Point won or two lost for FCI Tallinn?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Paide? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Marek Kruglov

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Parnu in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

358 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

6 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Andero Kaares puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Andero Kaares

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andero Kaares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Tallinn the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

No hiding place for Mirko Castagnini

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirko Castagnini, and the manager let it.

Match

No time for Narva Trans to settle

The goal that put Narva Trans ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when FCI Tallinn equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.

Match

FCI Tallinn share the spoils with Narva Trans

A 2‑2 draw with Narva Trans leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Interim Coach on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Player ratings

Andero Kaares beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

357 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

30 May 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCI Tallinn can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

FCI Tallinn get the job done against Tulevik

A 1‑0 win over Tulevik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sergei Marin

“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 ratings

Kirill Chernyak was the difference for FCI Tallinn

Marked 7.84. 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 dugout

Interim Coach has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Looking ahead

Thomas Davies faces his old club

Narva Trans next, and one man in the FCI Tallinn dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

356 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

23 May 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

Andero Kaares sends FCI Tallinn past Tammeka

It finished 2‑1, and it was Andero Kaares’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FCI Tallinn.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Andero Kaares

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Player ratings

Andero Kaares in the eights

A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Silver Baranov was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.31. 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.

Squad

Edoardo Biffi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edoardo Biffi commits to FCI Tallinn for another 3 years.

The dugout

Interim Coach has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

355 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

16 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

FCI Tallinn are in real trouble now

Position 8, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

6 saves: Mirko Castagnini was the team

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.

Match

No end in sight to FCI Tallinn's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FCI Tallinn has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

Nomme Kalju take the points off FCI Tallinn

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andero Kaares

“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 ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

354 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

9 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Only the photograph left for Andero Kaares

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andero Kaares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Tallinn the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini keeps FCI Tallinn in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Match

Flora take the points off FCI Tallinn

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Alex Bugaj

“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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Andero Kaares 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 Andero Kaares trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Sergei Marin does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

In brief

353 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

2 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Mirko Castagnini keeps FCI Tallinn in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

FCI Tallinn come up short against Levadia

Levadia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Andero Kaares

Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

FCI Tallinn at the halfway mark

Half the programme played, position 6, 9 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for FCI Tallinn

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 Flora.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Edoardo Biffi

“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.

In brief

352 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

25 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Ebrima Jatta signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ebrima Jatta and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

Point won or two lost for FCI Tallinn?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sillamae Kalev? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Andero Kaares

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Levadia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Player ratings

Silver Baranov leaves them behind him

Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Player ratings

The one thing Andero Kaares could not do

Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Ebrima Jatta

11 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

In brief

351 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

18 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Vlasi Baranov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 terraces

FCI Tallinn supporters have found a favourite in Andero Kaares

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Andero Kaares 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.

Match

Andero Kaares sends FCI Tallinn past Parnu

It finished 1‑0, and it was Andero Kaares’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FCI Tallinn.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Andero Kaares

Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Ebrima Jatta makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

The dugout

Interim Coach has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Looking ahead

Silver Baranov faces his old club

Sillamae Kalev next, and one man in the FCI Tallinn dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

350 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

11 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Andero Kaares

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andero Kaares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Tallinn the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Rauno Teniste 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Sergei Marin signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergei Marin commits to FCI Tallinn for another 3 years.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

FCI Tallinn share the spoils with Paide

A 1‑1 draw with Paide leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Market

Marek Kruglov told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marek Kruglov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FCI Tallinn.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Player ratings

Andero Kaares beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

349 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

4 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Vladislav Stepanenko was the difference for FCI Tallinn

Marked 7.38. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Squad

A step back for Alex Bugaj at FCI Tallinn

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Karl Ojamaa

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Karl Ojamaa has come out of that comparison in the side, and FCI Tallinn have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

Market

Nikita Doroshko is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at FCI Tallinn has been clear about where Nikita Doroshko stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the FCI Tallinn dressing room was either.

The dugout

FCI Tallinn pick somebody else ahead of Nikita Doroshko

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

In brief

348 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

28 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The interim tag comes off Interim Coach

FCI Tallinn interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCI Tallinn can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Andero Kaares’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tulevik, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marek Kait

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marek Kait, and the manager let it.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Thomas Davies

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Narva Trans in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

347 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

21 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

A brace, and Silver Baranov takes the afternoon — 8.81

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Silver Baranov provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

FCI Tallinn see off Tammeka

Three points for FCI Tallinn, 2‑1 the final word against Tammeka in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The terraces

One of their own: Andero Kaares

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

The dugout

No hiding place for Andero Kaares

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andero Kaares, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

Player ratings

The chances came and went for Andero Kaares

9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.

In brief

346 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

14 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

9 saves: Mirko Castagnini was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Andero Kaares has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCI Tallinn they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Klaidi Tershalla delivers — 7.40

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Klaidi Tershalla scored, was marked 7.40, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Market

Rauno Teniste asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the FCI Tallinn dugout

13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

Klaidi Tershalla’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Klaidi Tershalla scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Nomme Kalju, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

345 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

7 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

FCI Tallinn part company with the manager

The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.

Match

Nowhere to hide for FCI Tallinn

0‑5 against Flora, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Mirko Castagnini

There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Boardroom

An empty coaching office at FCI Tallinn

There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.

Boardroom

Interim Coach minds the shop at FCI Tallinn

“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.

Squad

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

6 academy players handed senior numbers at FCI Tallinn

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Market

FCI Tallinn promote Erik Puri from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Erik Puri has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

In brief

344 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

28 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Squad

Ivan Sanko out for 35 days

The medical room confirms 35 days on the sidelines for Ivan Sanko, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

343 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

21 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

The dugout

Ilya Vikhrov 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 Ilya Vikhrov is on it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rauno Dmitrijev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rauno Dmitrijev, and the manager let it.

Market

The Ivan Sanko question follows FCI Tallinn around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ivan Sanko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

342 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

14 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Andero Kaares

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andero Kaares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Tallinn the goodbyes have quietly begun.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

FCI Tallinn rebuffed over Umberto Morleo

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tammeka have kept their man, and FCI Tallinn go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

Mirko Castagnini has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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.

In brief

341 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

7 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone

That is the business done at FCI Tallinn 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.

Market

The Tammeka deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ivan Sanko reports back to FCI Tallinn with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Albers Keko stays at Flora as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. FCI Tallinn will try again when the window opens; Flora may not be selling by then.

The dugout

Andero Kaares 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 Andero Kaares trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

When it matters, David plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Ivan Sanko handed the armband

The captaincy goes to Ivan Sanko. It is not a job that wins matches, but a dressing room always notices who is given it.

In brief

340 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

31 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares agrees terms with Tammeka

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCI Tallinn people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Squad

Frank Antonov damages knee ligaments — 16 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The dugout

Andero Kaares keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCI Tallinn may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Squad

FCI Tallinn count the cost of losing Ivan Sanko

63 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

In brief

339 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

24 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Frank Antonov

23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Tulevik come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCI Tallinn did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Thomas Davies 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCI Tallinn can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

338 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

17 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Frank Antonov

30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Market

Parnu come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCI Tallinn did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Tammeka tell FCI Tallinn: Umberto Morleo is not for sale

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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

337 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

10 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Frank Antonov damages knee ligaments — 37 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.

Market

Andero Kaares turns Tammeka down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

Paolo Bonetti 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Market

Ivan Sanko attracts admirers

The name of Ivan Sanko has come up in conversations FCI Tallinn were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

FCI Tallinn lose Erik Klavan

40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

When it matters, David plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

336 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

3 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Frank Antonov damages knee ligaments — 44 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.

Squad

Artur Liivak signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artur Liivak and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

Boardroom

FCI Tallinn can sign again

The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.

In brief

335 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

27 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Frank Antonov

51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

In brief

334 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

20 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Mirko Castagnini stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mirko Castagnini and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

In brief

333 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

13 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Andero Kaares

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andero Kaares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Tallinn the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Paolo Bonetti asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

David gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David is on it.

In brief

332 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

6 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

David stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” David and FCI Tallinn agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alex Bugaj

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Bugaj, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

Squad

FCI Tallinn have started building around Sergei Pikk

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

In brief

331 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

29 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

In brief

330 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

22 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Home is on David's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FCI Tallinn are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Mirko Castagnini has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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 dugout

No hiding place for Edoardo Biffi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edoardo Biffi, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Squad The training reports on Edoardo Biffi are not good
  • The dugout David keeps his manager's vote
329 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

15 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCI Tallinn is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Paolo Bonetti puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Squad

David wants one last season at home

Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and FCI Tallinn know now that the thought has arrived.

In brief

328 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

8 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at FCI Tallinn would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

The dugout

Thomas Davies 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 Thomas Davies trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Alex Bugaj is not doing himself any favours

A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.

In brief

327 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

1 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

In brief

326 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

25 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

In brief

325 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

18 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCI Tallinn is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Paolo Bonetti asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Mihkel Dmitrijev 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 Mihkel Dmitrijev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

324 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

11 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Rauno Kait out for 23 days

The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Rauno Kait, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

International break empties FCI Tallinn

4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

The dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

The dugout

Alex Bugaj knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCI Tallinn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

323 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

4 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Vlasi Baranov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vlasi Baranov commits to FCI Tallinn for another 4 years.

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ebrima Jatta 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 dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

The dugout

When it matters, Ilya Vikhrov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Alex Bugaj 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 Alex Bugaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

322 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

27 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andero Kaares

“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 dugout

Mirko Castagnini 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 Mirko Castagnini is on it.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Kait 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 dugout

Ivan Sanko 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 Sanko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

321 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

20 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCI Tallinn they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCI Tallinn can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ebrima Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Gleb Shevchenko stays at Flora as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. FCI Tallinn will try again when the window opens; Flora may not be selling by then.

In brief

  • The dugout David has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout Thomas Davies knocks on the manager's door
  • The dugout The manager comes out for David
320 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

13 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Paolo Bonetti 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

FCI Tallinn count the cost of losing Alex Bugaj

38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebrima Jatta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Maksim Kalimullin deal

FCI Tallinn ran out of time with Flora. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Ebrima Jatta plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Edoardo Biffi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edoardo Biffi, and the manager let it.

Market

The window shut and Andero Kaares is still in the building

FCI Tallinn spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.

Squad

The training reports on Silver Baranov are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

319 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

6 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Tammeka come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCI Tallinn did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

$410.0K settles it between the clubs for Maksim Kalimullin

Flora have accepted the money. What FCI Tallinn do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 12 signed and 7 gone

That is the business done at FCI Tallinn 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.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Andreas Vaher stays at Flora as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. FCI Tallinn will try again when the window opens; Flora may not be selling by then.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A quiet fortnight at FCI Tallinn

With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.

The dugout

Ilya Vikhrov 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 Ilya Vikhrov is on it.

In brief

318 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

30 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Gleb Shevchenko

FCI Tallinn and Flora have settled on $120.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Mirko Castagnini has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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.

Squad

Questions about Sergei Pikk on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

In brief

317 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

23 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCI Tallinn is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Andreas Vaher

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FCI Tallinn have done the hard part with Flora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Nikita Doroshko signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikita Doroshko commits to FCI Tallinn for another 2 years.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergei Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

316 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

16 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Paolo Bonetti puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Alex Bugaj out for 66 days

The medical room confirms 66 days on the sidelines for Alex Bugaj, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Maksim Kalimullin

FCI Tallinn asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

The dugout

Alex Bugaj knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCI Tallinn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Edoardo Biffi 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.

Market

FCI Tallinn put Ivan Sanko up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ivan Sanko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

315 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

9 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

FCI Tallinn turn down Tammeka for Andero Kaares

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The dugout

Thomas Davies keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCI Tallinn may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

Klaidi Tershalla signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Klaidi Tershalla commits to FCI Tallinn for another 4 years.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Market

Mihkel Dmitrijev steps up from the FCI Tallinn academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mihkel Dmitrijev 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.

Market

FCI Tallinn promote Konstantin Baranov from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Konstantin Baranov 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.

Market

One of our own: Martin Kruglov joins the FCI Tallinn first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martin Kruglov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

In brief

314 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

2 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Alex Bugaj puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Klaidi Tershalla stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Klaidi Tershalla and FCI Tallinn agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

When it matters, Mirko Castagnini plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

313 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

26 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares has said yes to Tammeka

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCI Tallinn have lost him in all but the paperwork.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Andreas Vaher

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FCI Tallinn have done the hard part with Flora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

FCI Tallinn rebuffed over Gleb Shevchenko

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flora have kept their man, and FCI Tallinn go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

No hiding place for Marek Kruglov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marek Kruglov, and the manager let it.

The dugout

David has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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 dugout

Marek Kruglov 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.

In brief

312 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

19 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Paolo Bonetti 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Flora tell FCI Tallinn: Maksim Kalimullin is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and FCI Tallinn know it.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Bugaj 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 dugout

When it matters, Ebrima Jatta plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

FCI Tallinn put Alex Bugaj up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alex Bugaj may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

The dugout

FCI Tallinn keep their word to Sergei Marin

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

The dugout

Marek Kruglov 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 Marek Kruglov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

311 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

12 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Andero Kaares asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Market

FCI Tallinn say no — this time

The offer from Tammeka for Andero Kaares 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.

Transfer targets

$500.0K settles it between the clubs for Andreas Vaher

Flora have accepted the money. What FCI Tallinn do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

The dugout

Rauno Dmitrijev says FCI Tallinn went back on their word

“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.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

FCI Tallinn lose Martin Klavan

18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Sander Puri stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Sander Puri and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

310 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

5 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: David out for 18 days

18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCI Tallinn lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Alex Bugaj 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Match

FCI Tallinn finish in position 7

15 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini keeps FCI Tallinn in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Match

Andero Kaares’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Levadia, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Alex Bugaj

“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.

In brief

  • The dugout the manager: “No excuses”
  • Boardroom 4 new boys at the FCI Tallinn academy
  • The dugout Mirko Castagnini has become a man the manager trusts
309 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

28 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ivan Sanko asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Sergei Igonen gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sergei Igonen has just signed for FCI Tallinn, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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.

Match

The drought breaks for FCI Tallinn

5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sillamae Kalev were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

Karl Ojamaa beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

FCI Tallinn get the job done against Sillamae Kalev

A 1‑0 win over Sillamae Kalev, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

308 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

21 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: David out for 32 days

32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCI Tallinn lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

FCI Tallinn bow out of the cup

Nomme Kalju go through and FCI Tallinn go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Match

5 matches without a win for FCI Tallinn

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around FCI Tallinn are no longer polite ones.

The dugout

Edoardo Biffi keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCI Tallinn may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Transfer targets

César is a medical away from FCI Tallinn

The deal with Flora 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 15 days out for Ilya Vikhrov

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. FCI Tallinn will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Klaidi Tershalla beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Alex Bugaj 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.

In brief

307 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

14 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

FCI Tallinn sink to position 8

12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Paolo Bonetti 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

$620.0K settles it between the clubs for Andreas Vaher

Flora have accepted the money. What FCI Tallinn do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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.

Match

Paide take the points off FCI Tallinn

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Looking ahead

FCI Tallinn face Parnu in the game that matters most

Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Ilya Vikhrov gets picked when it counts
  • The dugout Nikita Doroshko gets it from the manager
306 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

7 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 46 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.

Market

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Kirill Chernyak beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Paolo Bonetti 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.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Karol Pikk

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Karol Pikk has come out of that comparison in the side, and FCI Tallinn have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

In brief

305 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

31 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Player ratings

Vlasi Baranov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

FCI Tallinn leaking at the back

6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Home is on Thomas Davies's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FCI Tallinn are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Match

Andero Kaares’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tulevik, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mirko Castagnini

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirko Castagnini, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Player ratings A masterclass from Andero Kaares
  • The dugout the manager: “No excuses”
  • The dugout Mirko Castagnini gets picked when it counts
304 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

24 May 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: David out for 60 days

60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCI Tallinn lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini stands alone

9 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.

Player ratings

Both of them Andero Kaares's — 9.61

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for FCI Tallinn

5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Ebrima Jatta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Andero Kaares sends FCI Tallinn past Tammeka

It finished 3‑2, and it was Andero Kaares’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FCI Tallinn.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 terraces

One of their own: Andero Kaares

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Silver Baranov in the eights

A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

303 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

17 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 67 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.

Market

Paolo Bonetti puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCI Tallinn can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

FCI Tallinn leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Match

A bad afternoon for FCI Tallinn against Nomme Kalju

0‑2 to Nomme Kalju, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alex Bugaj

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Bugaj, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market No place for Marek Kruglov in the plan
  • The dugout When it matters, Ilya Vikhrov plays
302 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

10 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 74 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

Nowhere to hide for FCI Tallinn

0‑3 against Flora, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

Andero Kaares asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Match

FCI Tallinn sink to position 8

8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at FCI Tallinn

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

  • The dugout the manager answers for it
  • The dugout No hiding place for Nikita Doroshko
  • The dugout Ebrima Jatta gets picked when it counts
301 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

3 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: David out for 81 days

81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCI Tallinn lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini stands alone

8 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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Andero Kaares takes the afternoon — 9.13

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andero Kaares provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Match

Andero Kaares’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Levadia, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about FCI Tallinn and Levadia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” David and FCI Tallinn agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mirko Castagnini

“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.

In brief

  • Player ratings One of those days for Silver Baranov
  • Match FCI Tallinn at the halfway mark
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
300 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

26 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Both of them Andero Kaares's — 9.28

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Match

Andero Kaares the difference as FCI Tallinn beat Sillamae Kalev

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andero Kaares. 3‑2 against Sillamae Kalev, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

One of their own: Andero Kaares

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Kirill Chernyak beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

the manager: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑2, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

When it matters, Mirko Castagnini plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

299 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

19 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 95 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.

Market

Paolo Bonetti puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Vlasi Baranov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

When it matters, Ilya Vikhrov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marek Kruglov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marek Kruglov, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” the manager was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the FCI Tallinn dressing room was either.

In brief

298 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

12 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 102 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.

Market

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Every point is an argument now for FCI Tallinn

Position 8 and 4 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 dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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 terraces

FCI Tallinn supporters have found a favourite in Ebrima Jatta

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ebrima Jatta 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Paolo Bonetti

“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 ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

  • Player ratings Ebrima Jatta takes the honours
  • The dugout Half-satisfied: the manager on the draw
  • The dugout David gets picked when it counts
297 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

5 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Match

FCI Tallinn come up short against Narva Trans

Narva Trans left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mirko Castagnini

“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 ratings

Kirill Chernyak beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Karol Pikk stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Karol Pikk and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

the manager answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Karl Dmitrijev 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.

In brief

296 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

29 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: David out for 116 days

116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCI Tallinn lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Vlasi Baranov

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Konstantin Teniste

At 19 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.

Match

At last: FCI Tallinn win one

5 matches without a win, and then this, against Tulevik. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Match

FCI Tallinn find a way past Tulevik

Tulevik made FCI Tallinn work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

100 appearances for Kirill Chernyak

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Thomas Davies

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Davies, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Player ratings Andero Kaares takes the honours
  • The dugout the manager: “That is the standard”
  • The dugout When it matters, Mirko Castagnini plays
295 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

22 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

5 matches without a win for FCI Tallinn

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around FCI Tallinn are no longer polite ones.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Home is on David's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FCI Tallinn are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Match

Andero Kaares’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tammeka, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alex Bugaj

“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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

294 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

15 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: David out for 130 days

130 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCI Tallinn lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini keeps FCI Tallinn in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

Nomme Kalju punish FCI Tallinn for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Andero Kaares will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at FCI Tallinn escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Market

Andero Kaares puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Match

The wait goes on for FCI Tallinn

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Alex Bugaj wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCI Tallinn can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Andero Kaares’s goal not enough for FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Nomme Kalju, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

In brief

  • The terraces The crowd has taken to Andero Kaares
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout The manager has not finished forgetting Vlasi Baranov's mistake
293 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

8 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 137 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 137 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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Mirko Castagnini

There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

FCI Tallinn taken apart

0‑5 to Flora, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Graduation day at FCI Tallinn

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Vikhrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Martin Sorga steps up from the FCI Tallinn academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Sorga 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.

Market

FCI Tallinn promote Sergei Pikk from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergei Pikk has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

In brief

292 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

1 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

David damages knee ligaments — 144 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 144 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.

Market

Paolo Bonetti puts it in writing

“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

When it matters, Mirko Castagnini plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Looking ahead

FCI Tallinn take on the side everybody is chasing

Flora arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

Looking ahead

Andero Kaares goes back to face Flora

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andero Kaares’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and FCI Tallinn needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

291 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

23 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David

151 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCI Tallinn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Andero Kaares 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

Ilya Vikhrov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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.

Boardroom

The FCI Tallinn production line keeps running

63 graduates out of an academy now rated 3 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

290 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

16 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Vikhrov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

289 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

9 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Transfer targets

Failed medical for Dragan Grivić

The deal with Flora died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

When it matters, Ebrima Jatta plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Alex Bugaj 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 Alex Bugaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

288 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

2 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Paolo Bonetti 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 2 in, 1 out at FCI Tallinn

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

Mirko Castagnini 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 Mirko Castagnini is on it.

The dugout

Alex Bugaj 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.

In brief

287 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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 dugout

Ilya Vikhrov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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.

Squad

Questions about Silver Baranov on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

Boardroom

The FCI Tallinn production line keeps running

63 graduates out of an academy now rated 3 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

286 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

19 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Transfer targets

Dragan Grivić due for a FCI Tallinn medical

Everything agreed with Flora, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

When it matters, David plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Alex Bugaj needs a bigger stage

He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and FCI Tallinn know which stage they are at.

In brief

285 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

12 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Transfer targets

Ken Kallaste is a medical away from FCI Tallinn

The deal with Flora 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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 targets

Door shut on Dragan Grivić

FCI Tallinn asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Home is on David's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FCI Tallinn are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Ilya Vikhrov 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.

Squad

Alex Bugaj stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Alex Bugaj and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

Market

FCI Tallinn shop where it costs nothing

Alex Bugaj signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.

In brief

284 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

5 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Paolo Bonetti asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Marek Kruglov falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Hizdion Sulejmani is in the works

FCI Tallinn have made the call to Flora. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

A long bet from FCI Tallinn on Rauno Dmitrijev

He is 19, and nobody at FCI Tallinn signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Squad

Rauno Dmitrijev signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rauno Dmitrijev and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years.

The dugout

When it matters, Mirko Castagnini plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

No place for Rauno Dmitrijev in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation FCI Tallinn are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

The dugout

Paolo Bonetti 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.

In brief

  • Boardroom The window opens at FCI Tallinn
  • The dugout The manager comes out for David
283 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

29 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Ebrima Jatta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Ilya Vikhrov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Paolo Bonetti 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.

Boardroom

The FCI Tallinn academy earns its keep

63 graduates, from a department now rated 3 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.

In brief

282 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

22 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

In brief

281 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

15 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Market

Karol Marin is a FCI Tallinn player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergei Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Karol Marin already looking beyond FCI Tallinn

He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.

Squad

Karol Marin signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karol Marin and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years.

In brief

280 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

8 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

FCI Tallinn lose Nikita Ainsalu

25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

279 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Ilya Vikhrov 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 Ilya Vikhrov is on it.

Squad

Mirko Castagnini still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at FCI Tallinn would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

Market

FCI Tallinn put Frank Antonov up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Frank Antonov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

278 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

24 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

When it matters, David plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

277 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

17 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Market

As if he never left: Martin Ainsalu returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Martin Ainsalu is a FCI Tallinn player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

Samuel Xhafkollari 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.

Squad

Martin Ainsalu signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Ainsalu commits to FCI Tallinn for another 3 years.

In brief

276 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

10 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Paolo Bonetti asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Ebrima Jatta 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.

Squad

Home is on David's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FCI Tallinn are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

When it matters, Mirko Castagnini plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Paolo Bonetti 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.

In brief

275 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

3 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergei Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Ilya Vikhrov 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 Ilya Vikhrov is on it.

Squad

Ivan Sanko loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Ivan Sanko. FCI Tallinn will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

Squad

Gerdo Juhkam is not saying it is over

“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 37 with 348 appearances behind him, and FCI Tallinn have to plan for both answers.

The dugout

Marek Kruglov 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.

Market

The shop window has Paolo Bonetti in it

FCI Tallinn have let the market know Paolo Bonetti can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

Market

Still no signature from Gerdo Juhkam

2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what FCI Tallinn could get for him.

In brief

274 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

27 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

273 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

20 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Market

Frank Igonen asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Thomas Davies stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Davies and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta is on it.

Squad

The training reports on Thomas Davies are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

272 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

13 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Gerdo Juhkam out for 39 days

The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Gerdo Juhkam, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

Gerdo Juhkam 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.

In brief

271 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

6 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Ivan Sanko out for 14 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCI Tallinn will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Andero Kaares 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.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Kirill Chernyak stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Kirill Chernyak and FCI Tallinn agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov 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 dugout

Ilya Vikhrov 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 Ilya Vikhrov is on it.

Market

Samuel Xhafkollari is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at FCI Tallinn has been clear about where Samuel Xhafkollari stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

Joonas Liivak 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 Joonas Liivak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The shop window has Paolo Bonetti in it

FCI Tallinn have let the market know Paolo Bonetti can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

270 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

29 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Ivan Sanko breaks a bone — 21 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Andero Kaares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Konstantin Liivak signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Konstantin Liivak and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Andero Kaares 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.

In brief

  • The dugout David has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout The manager plants his flag on Vlasi Baranov
269 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

28 days out for Ivan Sanko after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCI Tallinn will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Ebrima Jatta 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCI Tallinn

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlasi Baranov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Ebrima Jatta plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Andero Kaares knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCI Tallinn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

  • Squad The training reports on Edoardo Biffi are not good
  • The dugout The manager plants his flag on David
268 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

35 days out for Ivan Sanko after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCI Tallinn will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Paolo Bonetti 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 FCI Tallinn can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vlasi Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David wants one last season at home

Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and FCI Tallinn know now that the thought has arrived.

Market

FCI Tallinn buy the years ahead of Frank Antonov

He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

Frank Antonov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Frank Antonov and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

267 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Ivan Sanko out for 42 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCI Tallinn will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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.

Squad

David wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and FCI Tallinn know it.

Squad

Vlasi Baranov 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.

Market

Silver Baranov told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Silver Baranov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FCI Tallinn.

The dugout

Ilya Vikhrov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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.

In brief

266 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The cup run ends for FCI Tallinn

0‑1 against Flora, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Ivan Sanko breaks a bone — 49 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 10 signed and 9 gone

That is the business done at FCI Tallinn 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko 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 targets

Deadline beats FCI Tallinn to Luke Butterfield

The clock did what Flora would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Squad

Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlasi Baranov 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.

Market

FCI Tallinn promote Rauno Kait from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rauno Kait 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.

Market

One of our own: Konstantin Liivak joins the FCI Tallinn first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Konstantin Liivak is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

265 Edition

The FCI Tallinn Chronicle

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Ivan Sanko breaks a bone — 56 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Gerdo Juhkam asks to leave FCI Tallinn

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Gerdo Juhkam says FCI Tallinn went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Alexey Vakulich

FCI Tallinn and Flora have settled on $100.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Silver Baranov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Silver Baranov and FCI Tallinn agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at FCI Tallinn

Vladislav Stepanenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

FCI Tallinn lose Nikita Pikk

25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

David has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCI Tallinn 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.

In brief