“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Dmitry Pestryakov is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at KAMAZ would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAMAZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at KAMAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Danila Prokhin 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vyacheslav Dorovskikh 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Danila Prokhin 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Vitaly Semenov is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vyacheslav Dorovskikh 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Danila Prokhin 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Savely Ratnikov is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Karaev signs something — a contract at KAMAZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 42 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 KAMAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.62, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Danila Prokhin 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Luca Sestito is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAMAZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vyacheslav Dorovskikh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Artem Popov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and KAMAZ needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Giorgos Kotsoglou is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dmitry Yugaldin has written the date down.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one KAMAZ will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutAnton Roschin knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAMAZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Nobody at KAMAZ 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Savely Dementyev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the KAMAZ dressing room was either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Danila Prokhin 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAMAZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
1 for Danila Prokhin, marked 7.88, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Danila Prokhin 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Murom waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
KAMAZ close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The name of Roman Tkachuk has come up in conversations KAMAZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tresor Samba. 1‑0 against Sokol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Savely Dementyev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAMAZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shinnik have kept their man, and KAMAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Torpedo Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cherepovets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Rotor 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.
Danila Prokhin 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Danila Prokhin 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.
$85.0K was the most the club would pay and Shinnik were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
10 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
KAMAZ asked and Shinnik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Roman Tkachuk has come up in conversations KAMAZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Savely Dementyev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Savely Ratnikov is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sochi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around KAMAZ are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A brace, and David Karaev takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Karaev provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Danila Prokhin 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Andrey Bokovoy has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means KAMAZ have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The phone has started ringing about Denis Chuprunov again, and this time the name on the line is Chernomorets Burgas. KAMAZ are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 KAMAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KAMAZ can tell you which week it ends in.
Danila Prokhin 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 offer from CS Tunari for Denis Chuprunov 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KAMAZ can tell you which week it ends in.
Danila Prokhin 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dmitry Pestryakov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 Torpedo Moscow.
Danila Prokhin 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Savely Dementyev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.77, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Savely Dementyev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Artem Mamin's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Danila Prokhin 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.97, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yefrín Castillo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Andrey Solodukhin has come out of that comparison in the side, and KAMAZ have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutMaxim Laikin knocks on the manager's door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Danila Prokhin 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.
He is 20 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Evgeny Zamerets knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and KAMAZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Danila Prokhin 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dmitry Pestryakov has come out of that comparison in the side, and KAMAZ have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAMAZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Danila Prokhin 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.
A 2‑1 win over Arsenal Tula, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
David Karaev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Savely Dementyev, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Vitaly Semenov is on it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.58 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Anton Roschin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Karaev 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.02, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Savely Dementyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Kuban are out and KAMAZ go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match13 Oct 2027
Vitaly Semenov wins it after the whistle should have gone
122 minutes played. Vitaly Semenov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Kuban went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
David Karaev 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Danila Prokhin 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is David Karaev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and KAMAZ needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAMAZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dmitry Pestryakov did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
1 for Artem Mamin, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Artem Mamin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KAMAZ.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Tresor Samba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Savely Dementyev could afford to be generous.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and KAMAZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAMAZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dmitry Savin has just signed for KAMAZ, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
KAMAZ close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shinnik have kept their man, and KAMAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Laikin 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.
“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 dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Savely Dementyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Tonevitskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and KAMAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Laikin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yefrín Castillo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Something was said to Danila Prokhin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Karaev signs something — a contract at KAMAZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Karaev 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Surkhaikhan Abdullaev 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tresor Samba. 2‑0 against Rotor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The name of Roman Tkachuk has come up in conversations KAMAZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Vasiljev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
KAMAZ asked and Rubin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Laikin 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Progreso have kept their man, and KAMAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Laikin 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.
KAMAZ have made the call to SKA Khabarovsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shinnik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Tonevitskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Danila Prokhin 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.
KAMAZ asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Up for the corner, and Artem Mamin delivers — 7.68
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Artem Mamin scored, was marked 7.68, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Maxim Laikin 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.88 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Tkachuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Karaev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo St Petersburg have kept their man, and KAMAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Maxim Laikin 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Legion for Ruslan Ayukin 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.37 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Akron is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
KAMAZ had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nizhniy Novgorod, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Ratnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Akhmat Grozny, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Roman Manuilov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Tonevitskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
KAMAZ have gone to Krylya Sovetov with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$600.0K was the most the club would pay and Baltika were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Artem Mamin 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KAMAZ are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Cherepovets had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Pobeda for Roman Manuilov 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.
$600.0K on the table at Baltika. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deal with Ural 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.
$550.0K was the most the club would pay and Krylya Sovetov were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
David Karaev 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.
KAMAZ asked and Akron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Artur Anisimov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAMAZ can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Krylya Sovetov this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Pobeda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Roman Manuilov. The answer from KAMAZ has not changed — yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KAMAZ will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Khubaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Karaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Ratnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Karaev 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matvey Shavel is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timofey Kalistratov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Tkachuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at KAMAZ will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexandr Deryugin has written the date down.
Position 6, 45 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
277 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniil Shamkin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
David Khubaev 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Tkachuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Karaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roman Manuilov has his answer from KAMAZ; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAMAZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at KAMAZ 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.
Position 6 on 45 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrey Solodukhin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Karaev 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
David Khubaev 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at KAMAZ pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Rotor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Karaev signs something — a contract at KAMAZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at KAMAZ will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KAMAZ. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Zaschepkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luca Sestito and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at KAMAZ no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Fakel; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Tkachuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Daniil Shamkin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Artur Anisimov reports back to KAMAZ with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Ratnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dinamo Makhachkala wanted more than $460.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Daniil Shamkin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Laikin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Chertanovo had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at KAMAZ 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$460.0K on the table at Dinamo Makhachkala. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deal that would have taken Surkhaikhan Abdullaev to Luki-Energiya has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to KAMAZ with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KAMAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rostov keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Rostov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Savely Ratnikov has come up in conversations KAMAZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cherepovets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KAMAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Strogino had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
KAMAZ had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baltika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The deal with Krasnodar 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.
“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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 KAMAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Baltika this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Nizhniy Novgorod 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.
KAMAZ asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alexandr Deryugin had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Baltika were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Luca Sestito 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.
KAMAZ asked and Akron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAMAZ can pretend not to have heard.
A 2‑1 win over SKA Khabarovsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
David Khubaev 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KAMAZ told Maxim Laikin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Daniil Shamkin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
Marked 6.68 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Savely Dementyev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Laikin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Spartak Kostroma defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
David Karaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Chernomorets leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Savely Dementyev chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandr Deryugin has his answer from KAMAZ; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. KAMAZ will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAMAZ can pretend not to have heard.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Sestito, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
David Khubaev 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.
“I watch every KAMAZ game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
A 1‑0 win over Ufa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
David Khubaev 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.
Marked 7.95 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, KAMAZ had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Savely Dementyev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Andrey Semenov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Maxim Burko 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.
“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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
Position 5, 26 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Savely Dementyev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Alexandr Deryugin's mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Maxim Laikin 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Andrey Solodukhin has come out of that comparison in the side, and KAMAZ have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Savely Dementyev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than David Khubaev
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAMAZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
0‑1 to Rotor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Maxim Burko 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Savely Dementyev to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Rostov go through and KAMAZ 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.
David Karaev 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
David Khubaev 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Savely Dementyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting David Khubaev's mistake
David Karaev 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is David Karaev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and KAMAZ needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at KAMAZ 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrey Solodukhin signs something — a contract at KAMAZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KAMAZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Three points for KAMAZ, 1‑0 the final word against Fakel in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Maxim Burko 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.15, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at KAMAZ, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Savely Dementyev could afford to be generous.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Khubaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Savely Dementyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
David Khubaev 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Savely Dementyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luca Sestito
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Daniil Shamkin 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.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Khubaev 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.
“I watch every KAMAZ game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Shinnik in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KAMAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Roman Zaschepkin scored, was marked 7.29, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.46 for the rest of it.
David Karaev 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Burko 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Savely Dementyev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the KAMAZ dressing room was either.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sokol in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Vladislav Vasiljev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
David Karaev 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Muhammad Sultonov. 1‑0 against Neftekhimik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. KAMAZ will try again when the window opens; Akron may not be selling by then.
Squad21 Sep 2026
David Khubaev 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
KAMAZ close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KAMAZ have done the hard part with Akron, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KAMAZ and SKA Khabarovsk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tresor Samba. 4‑2 against SKA Khabarovsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 9.13 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAMAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Luca Sestito and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Burko 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Maxim Laikin has moved up it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAMAZ can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KAMAZ have done the hard part with Ural, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Daniil Shamkin 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.
Marked 6.97 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
KAMAZ asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Khubaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Valentin Paltsev is in the works
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAMAZ can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Daniil Shamkin 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.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
David Khubaev 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He is going to Akhmat Grozny, the club has $630.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KAMAZ have done the hard part with Rubin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Akhmat Grozny pay $630.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tresor Samba is living that version at KAMAZ, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer from Shooting Stars for Saminu Abdullahi 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.
David Karaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yaroslav Kudryashov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Semyon Butusov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksey Belkin 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Still no offer on the table, and David Karaev’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Savely Dementyev to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Daniil Kuznetsov is in the works