From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Stefan Petrenj has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Alexandr Korotaev 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KDV Tomsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Ilja Vorontsov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Apr 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dawoud Assoumani signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market23 Apr 2029
The clock does Yegor Skichko’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Yegor Skichko can ask rise.
Market23 Apr 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. David Dokhoyan may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Apr 2029
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Wages eat 141% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. David Dokhoyan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Korotaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Nikita Simdyankin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KDV Tomsk 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Apr 2029
The name of Danylo Sagutkin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. KDV Tomsk say nothing, which says plenty.
Market16 Apr 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ilja Vorontsov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout9 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mubarak Al-Buainain has his answer from KDV Tomsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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.
Market9 Apr 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dawoud Assoumani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arsen Arakelyan, and the manager let it.
Market9 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Simdyankin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout2 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Stefan Petrenj has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Ilja Volnov 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Stefan Petrenj has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at KDV Tomsk.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Starodub, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Maxim Palienko. KDV Tomsk will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Market2 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KDV Tomsk, another week without a signature from Dmitry Starodub.
Market2 Apr 2029
KDV Tomsk have made Sergey Agarev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market2 Apr 2029
The Ilja Volnov talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Mar 2029
Ilja Volnov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxim Palienko is on it.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Starodub trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Mar 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dawoud Assoumani signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Mar 2029
KDV Tomsk have let the market know Erik Lazaryan can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market26 Mar 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs KDV Tomsk money.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager plants his flag on Ilja Volnov
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ilja Volnov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Mar 2029
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KDV Tomsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
163% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. David Dokhoyan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Ilja Vorontsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 Mar 2029
The name of Danylo Sagutkin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. KDV Tomsk say nothing, which says plenty.
Market19 Mar 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Maxim Podluzhny may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Mar 2029
Vladimir Samsonov damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Mar 2029
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
KDV Tomsk asked and Spartak 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KDV Tomsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Ilja Vorontsov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Vorontsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Mar 2029
Vladimir Samsonov damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Stefan Petrenj has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
KDV Tomsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maxim Palienko and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Nikita Simdyankin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftyanik have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vsevolod Buradjiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at KDV Tomsk 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Korotaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Maxim Palienko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KDV Tomsk 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Erik Lazaryan
“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 dugout26 Feb 2029
Dawoud Assoumani asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Stepan Sokolovskiy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
KDV Tomsk asked and Irtysh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
168% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Korotaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
Dinamo Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
A loan enquiry to CSKA Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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 Nikita Simdyankin is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Feb 2029
Dawoud Assoumani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
KDV Tomsk asked and Spartak 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Anton Kilin gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
CSKA Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Yegor Skichko'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.
Market12 Feb 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Simdyankin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Feb 2029
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KDV Tomsk have done the hard part with Dinamo St Petersburg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
KDV Tomsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Dawoud Assoumani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
KDV Tomsk asked and Spartak 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Korotaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dawoud Assoumani is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KDV Tomsk have done the hard part with CSKA Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mashuk have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vsevolod Buradjiev, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Alexandr Korotaev 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
Anton Kilin told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Anton Kilin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at KDV Tomsk.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Maxim Palienko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KDV Tomsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Stepan Sokolovskiy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Jan 2029
The decline has begun for Anton Kilin
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for KDV Tomsk is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vsevolod Buradjiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
159% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“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 dugout22 Jan 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vyacheslav Goryachev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Match13 Jan 2029
0‑2 to Chelyabinsk 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Alexandr Korotaev 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 dugout15 Jan 2029
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Yegor Skichko will call it something else in private.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
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 0‑2 Vyacheslav Goryachev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Yegor Skichko's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. KDV Tomsk lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Squad15 Jan 2029
No place for Arlen Nyitrai in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KDV Tomsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The worst morning at KDV Tomsk
Administrators in the building, 9 points off the table, and a squad that cannot be added to. The football will carry on; the club it was played for has, for the moment, been taken out of its own hands.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Marked 7.77 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match6 Jan 2029
KDV Tomsk make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now KDV Tomsk have 3 straight wins of it.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$108.5K of the owner's money at KDV Tomsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The terraces8 Jan 2029
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match6 Jan 2029
Akron 2 made KDV Tomsk work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Korotaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vsevolod Buradjiev 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.
Match30 Dec 2028
Three points for KDV Tomsk, 1‑0 the final word against Ural 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Korotaev, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
A promise honoured at KDV Tomsk
Something was said to Stefan Petrenj and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Vyacheslav Goryachev could afford to be generous.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Maxim Palienko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KDV Tomsk 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Arsen Arakelyan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
No sign of nerves from Stefan Petrenj at 21 — 7.94
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Stefan Petrenj did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Kondrakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
193% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
The terraces25 Dec 2028
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.
Match23 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefan Petrenj. 2‑0 against Nosta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match23 Dec 2028
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Nosta. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match23 Dec 2028
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Stefan Petrenj in the middle of it, and Nosta unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Skichko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Dec 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Kondrakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to KDV Tomsk's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KDV Tomsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Dec 2028
Khimik left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danylo Sagutkin, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.07, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match9 Dec 2028
4 matches without a win for KDV Tomsk
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around KDV Tomsk are no longer polite ones.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Kondrakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match9 Dec 2028
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match9 Dec 2028
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Korotaev and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
$99.1K of the owner's money at KDV Tomsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Kondrakov 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
No signings allowed at KDV Tomsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match2 Dec 2028
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The KDV Tomsk debt reaches $4.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Wages eat 209% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad27 Nov 2028
The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Aleksei Kalinin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KDV Tomsk told Stefan Petrenj something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market20 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market20 Nov 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Daniil Kondrakov 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Stefan Petrenj knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stefan Petrenj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Nov 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market20 Nov 2028
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs KDV Tomsk money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KDV Tomsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Nikita Simdyankin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Kondrakov 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
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 Nikita Simdyankin is on it.
Market13 Nov 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Stefan Petrenj knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
$93.6K of the owner's money at KDV Tomsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match4 Nov 2028
Amkar left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Palienko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
No signings allowed at KDV Tomsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad6 Nov 2028
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The KDV Tomsk debt reaches $4.6M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Oct 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Oct 2028
Rubin 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KDV Tomsk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KDV Tomsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.14, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
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 7.72 for the rest of it.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Kondrakov 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Wages eat 200% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Oct 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KDV Tomsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Kondrakov 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 terraces23 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Stefan Petrenj 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
Uralets-TS made KDV Tomsk work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
A mark of 7.46, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Vyacheslav Goryachev could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramazan Ibragimov, and the manager let it.
Market16 Oct 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Erik Lazaryan has his answer from KDV Tomsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Nikita Simdyankin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KDV Tomsk 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Oct 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match4 Oct 2028
The small margins put KDV Tomsk out
Out, 1‑2 to Ufa, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Danylo Sagutkin and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Kondrakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Oct 2028
0‑2 to Torpedo Vladimir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Skichko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
KDV Tomsk are $4.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Oct 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Danylo Sagutkin and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The owner puts $86.1K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Kondrakov 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
Wages swallow 184% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The terraces2 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vsevolod Buradjiev 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Simdyankin. 2‑0 against Chelyabinsk 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market2 Oct 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Sep 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.63, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market25 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Kondrakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market25 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
Three points for KDV Tomsk, 2‑0 the final word against Akron 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout25 Sep 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Sep 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Sep 2028
Nowhere to hide for KDV Tomsk
1‑4 against Ural 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match18 Sep 2028
KDV Tomsk sink to position 12
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Kondrakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Yegor Skichko lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Sep 2028
The Amkar deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Yegor Skichko reports back to KDV Tomsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market11 Sep 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
KDV Tomsk close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 6 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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KDV Tomsk have done the hard part with Mashuk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Daniil Bolshunov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Yegor Skichko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Amkar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The deal with Zenit 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
$72.7K from the owner keeps KDV Tomsk afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
140% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
Still no offer on the table, and Daniil Kondrakov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Aug 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Kondrakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Khimik left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vorontsov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Anton Kilin dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Aug 2028
KDV Tomsk march on in the cup
Avangard are out and KDV Tomsk go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Mashuk; KDV Tomsk go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces21 Aug 2028
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Aug 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The deal with Mashuk 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
No end in sight to KDV Tomsk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KDV Tomsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
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.
Match12 Aug 2028
1‑2 to Krylya Sovetov 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Petrenj, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Squad
Ilja Vorontsov falls out with a teammate over standards
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Boardroom
KDV Tomsk are $4.0M in the red
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Aug 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KDV Tomsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
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.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The deal with Metallurg 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maxim Palienko and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Maxim Palienko 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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
$63.9K from the owner keeps KDV Tomsk afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amkar have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match5 Aug 2028
Rodina 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 125% of the KDV Tomsk income
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The dugout
Ilja Volnov gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
A loan move for Yegor Plotnikov is in the works
KDV Tomsk have made the call to Mashuk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market31 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market31 Jul 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniil Bolshunov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market31 Jul 2028
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what KDV Tomsk could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Jul 2028
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Dmitry Starodub ran the middle of the pitch — 6.99
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
It needed Alexandr Korotaev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Amkar, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KDV Tomsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Jul 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at KDV Tomsk
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market17 Jul 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eduard Raspopin has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Jul 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vladimir Samsonov 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.
Market17 Jul 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yegor Dolgikh has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 117% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Mashuk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Ilja Vorontsov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sagutkin signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Nagaitsev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Damian Guzik and KDV Tomsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The owner puts $55.7K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
KDV Tomsk sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Market3 Jul 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
Ilja Vorontsov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Jul 2028
The name of Daniil Kondrakov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. KDV Tomsk say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Jun 2028
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
KDV Tomsk asked and Mashuk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Stefan Petrenj knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stefan Petrenj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Jun 2028
The name of Stefan Petrenj keeps appearing in other people's back pages. KDV Tomsk say nothing, which says plenty.
Market26 Jun 2028
KDV Tomsk have let the market know Stefan Petrenj can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
No signings allowed at KDV Tomsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The KDV Tomsk debt reaches $3.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan move for Yegor Plotnikov is in the works
KDV Tomsk have made the call to Mashuk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Shinnik will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nikoloz Tkalia has pre-agreed a move to KDV Tomsk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
106% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Jun 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KDV Tomsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market12 Jun 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sagutkin signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market12 Jun 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniil Kondrakov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Nagaitsev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The owner puts $50.2K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market5 Jun 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 May 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 May 2028
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout29 May 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout29 May 2028
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market29 May 2028
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what KDV Tomsk could get for him.
Market29 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Kondrakov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market29 May 2028
KDV Tomsk have made Stefan Petrenj available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Boardroom22 May 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad22 May 2028
Ilja Vorontsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom22 May 2028
KDV Tomsk are $3.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout22 May 2028
Ilja Vorontsov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market22 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KDV Tomsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 May 2028
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 108% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad15 May 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; KDV Tomsk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout15 May 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KDV Tomsk told Alexey Mikhailov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout15 May 2028
Ilja Vorontsov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market15 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sagutkin signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market15 May 2028
KDV Tomsk have let the market know Daniil Bolshunov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anton Kilin and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The owner puts $42.7K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 May 2028
Artem Nagaitsev 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 dugout8 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market8 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match8 May 2028
Continental football is in reach for KDV Tomsk
41 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market8 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniil Kondrakov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad8 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at KDV Tomsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout1 May 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 May 2028
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 May 2028
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market1 May 2028
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what KDV Tomsk could get for him.
The dugout1 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at KDV Tomsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Maxim Palienko 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.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
No signings allowed at KDV Tomsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The KDV Tomsk debt reaches $3.4M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KDV Tomsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
115% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vorontsov, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Apr 2028
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match10 Apr 2028
Continental football is in reach for KDV Tomsk
41 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market10 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniil Kondrakov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout3 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The owner puts $36.7K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
Ilja Vorontsov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KDV Tomsk has been clear about where Ilja Vorontsov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market3 Apr 2028
The clock does Alexandr Nesterov’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Alexandr Nesterov can ask rise.
Market3 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Kondrakov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market3 Apr 2028
KDV Tomsk have let the market know Stefan Petrenj can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir Malyshev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
KDV Tomsk are $3.3M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Ilja Vorontsov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Vorontsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Mar 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Nesterov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Alexandr Nesterov 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Wages swallow 124% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Nesterov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sagutkin signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Mar 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniil Bolshunov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and KDV Tomsk know it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market13 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match13 Mar 2028
KDV Tomsk have something to play for
Position 5 on 41 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
KDV Tomsk have made Daniil Kondrakov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market13 Mar 2028
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what KDV Tomsk could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Ilja Vorontsov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Danylo Sagutkin commits to KDV Tomsk for another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Maxim Palienko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The owner puts $29.9K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The captaincy has been taken off Daniil Kondrakov. KDV Tomsk will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
KDV Tomsk close the window on a squad of their own making
1 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Daniil Bolshunov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chaika have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
KDV Tomsk cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
KDV Tomsk are $3.2M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Yegor Skichko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yegor Skichko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Danylo Sagutkin for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KDV Tomsk will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alexandr Nesterov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad21 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Wages eat 138% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Yegor Skichko knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sagutkin signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vorontsov, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and KDV Tomsk will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market14 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KDV Tomsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market14 Feb 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ilja Volnov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market14 Feb 2028
The clock does Artem Nagaitsev’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Artem Nagaitsev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
$13.1K from the owner keeps KDV Tomsk afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Ilja Vorontsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Artem Nagaitsev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
Ilja Vorontsov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market7 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Kondrakov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Jan 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Dinamo Barnaul, and it could have been more.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.44, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
KDV Tomsk asked and Chaika 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 terraces31 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Platon Tikhomirov 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.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
No signings allowed at KDV Tomsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The KDV Tomsk debt reaches $3.0M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anton Kilin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2028
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages eat 138% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match22 Jan 2028
Chelyabinsk 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Jan 2028
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Nesterov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
No sign of nerves from Stefan Petrenj at 20 — 7.74
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Stefan Petrenj did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Stefan Petrenj 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefan Petrenj. 2‑0 against Akron 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match15 Jan 2028
KDV Tomsk are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match15 Jan 2028
Akron 2 blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Akron 2 tried to reorganise, KDV Tomsk did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilja Vorontsov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; KDV Tomsk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market10 Jan 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Kondrakov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market10 Jan 2028
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs KDV Tomsk money.
Squad10 Jan 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at KDV Tomsk has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Match10 Jan 2028
Continental football is in reach for KDV Tomsk
35 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KDV Tomsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxim Palienko and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
$3.8K of the owner's money at KDV Tomsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match1 Jan 2028
Three points for KDV Tomsk, 1‑0 the final word against Amkar in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
No signings allowed at KDV Tomsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The KDV Tomsk debt reaches $3.0M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market3 Jan 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KDV Tomsk, another week without a signature from Daniil Kondrakov.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Dec 2027
Nowhere to hide for KDV Tomsk
0‑3 against Rubin 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at KDV Tomsk now.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Wages swallow 165% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Dec 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Uralets-TS, and it could have been more.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
A brace, and Nikita Simdyankin takes the afternoon — 8.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Simdyankin provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KDV Tomsk told Stefan Petrenj something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑0, Vyacheslav Goryachev could afford to be generous.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad20 Dec 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. KDV Tomsk lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vorontsov, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vyacheslav Goryachev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the KDV Tomsk dressing room was either.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexandr Nesterov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A defender's goal wins it for KDV Tomsk — 7.33
1 for Noah Munkholm, marked 7.33, 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match4 Dec 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Kondrakov, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
KDV Tomsk are $2.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market6 Dec 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Vyacheslav Goryachev to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at KDV Tomsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 161% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Nov 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Volna leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market29 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Danylo Sagutkin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market29 Nov 2027
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what KDV Tomsk could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ural 2 made KDV Tomsk work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Yegor Skichko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and KDV Tomsk know it.
The dugout22 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.” Vyacheslav Goryachev, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Nikita Simdyankin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mubarak Al-Buainain, and the manager let it.
Market15 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexandr Nesterov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Match15 Nov 2027
Continental football is in reach for KDV Tomsk
24 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KDV Tomsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match6 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for KDV Tomsk
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KDV Tomsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nikita Simdyankin is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 7.13 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, KDV Tomsk had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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 dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Malyshev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at KDV Tomsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 141% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Danylo Sagutkin
“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.
Match1 Nov 2027
Halfway: KDV Tomsk sit in position 5
23 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout1 Nov 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 1‑3 Vyacheslav Goryachev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Nagaitsev 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Daniil Kondrakov has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A brace, and Daniil Kondrakov takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Appearance number 500 for Anton Kilin
500 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Maxim Palienko
“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 Oct 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Vyacheslav Goryachev to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Nesterov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad25 Oct 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Nikita Simdyankin has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A brace, and Nikita Simdyankin takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Simdyankin provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market18 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Yegor Yegorov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Yegorov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Volnov, and the manager let it.
Match16 Oct 2027
It needed Nikita Simdyankin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Chelyabinsk 2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vyacheslav Goryachev was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the KDV Tomsk dressing room was either.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Daniil Kondrakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Oct 2027
KDV Tomsk are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Kondrakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and KDV Tomsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Stefan Petrenj is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Market11 Oct 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Kondrakov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KDV Tomsk, another week without a signature from David Dokhoyan.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at KDV Tomsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 8.14 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Korotaev. 3‑1 against Akron 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anton Kilin and KDV Tomsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 144% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danylo Sagutkin, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Ilja Vorontsov 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Noah Munkholm is 19, and KDV Tomsk have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market27 Sep 2027
He is 18, and nobody at KDV Tomsk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Noah Munkholm commits to KDV Tomsk for another 3 years.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Maxim Palienko knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Sep 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sagutkin signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Sep 2027
Yegor Skichko hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.09 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
A 2‑1 win over Amkar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Stefan Petrenj 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Sep 2027
KDV Tomsk are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 16 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at KDV Tomsk until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Petrenj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Petrenj, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vyacheslav Goryachev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
Damian Guzik breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The paperwork begins on Mark Isong
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KDV Tomsk have done the hard part with Alania, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chaika have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Petrenj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 122% of everything KDV Tomsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KDV Tomsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
KDV Tomsk can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Damian Guzik out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A defender's goal wins it for KDV Tomsk — 7.36
1 for Alexandr Korotaev, marked 7.36, 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Alexandr Nesterov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
KDV Tomsk asked and Volna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Aug 2027
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match28 Aug 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Oleg Leonov 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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Lomtev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
31 days out for Damian Guzik after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match18 Aug 2027
Avangard ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad23 Aug 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The numbers do not look good at KDV Tomsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match21 Aug 2027
A 1‑0 win over Krylya Sovetov 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Petrenj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Volnov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Damian Guzik out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market16 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
The run is over for KDV Tomsk
6 matches without defeat, and then Rodina 2. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Match14 Aug 2027
0‑1 to Rodina 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Yegor Skichko
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Petrenj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Damian Guzik out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match7 Aug 2027
Nobody wants to play KDV Tomsk right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
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 7.67 for the rest of it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match7 Aug 2027
Volna made KDV Tomsk work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match7 Aug 2027
The run at home goes on for KDV Tomsk
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Vorontsov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad2 Aug 2027
54 days out for Damian Guzik after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match31 Jul 2027
KDV Tomsk make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now KDV Tomsk have 5 straight wins of it.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Alexandr Nesterov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match31 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Simdyankin. 2‑0 against Ural 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Petrenj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Mashuk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
Damian Guzik breaks a bone — 61 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jul 2027
Yegor Yegorov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Maxim Palienko, 33, rolls back the years — 7.85
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play KDV Tomsk right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chaika have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match24 Jul 2027
Three points for KDV Tomsk, 2‑0 the final word against Nosta in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Damian Guzik out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market19 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KDV Tomsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 2027
So close: Arseny Lomtev’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Astrakhan moved on, Arseny Lomtev reports back to KDV Tomsk, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Marked 7.66 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match17 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play KDV Tomsk right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at KDV Tomsk
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Damian Guzik out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KDV Tomsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
KDV Tomsk asked and Chaika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Leonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages swallow 112% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vorontsov, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Yegor Plotnikov is in the works
KDV Tomsk have made the call to Mashuk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Nesterov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
Damian Guzik breaks a bone — 85 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Daniil Bolshunov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volna have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Leonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and KDV Tomsk know it.
Market5 Jul 2027
Still no offer on the table, and Alexandr Nesterov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
KDV Tomsk sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Damian Guzik out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The deal with Mashuk 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Daniil Bolshunov 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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at KDV Tomsk now.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
KDV Tomsk asked and Metallurg 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Yegor Skichko
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Oleg Leonov 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dmitry Starodub has his answer from KDV Tomsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Kondrakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
99 days out for Damian Guzik after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Jun 2027
44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Alexandr Nesterov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Leonov 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KDV Tomsk has been clear about where Alexandr Korotaev stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Yegor Skichko's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Yegor Skichko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market21 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Skichko signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Leonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Jun 2027
No place for Anton Kilin in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Anton Kilin has his answer from KDV Tomsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 112% of the KDV Tomsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Vorontsov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad14 Jun 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KDV Tomsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
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. KDV Tomsk will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Oleg Leonov 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 17, and nobody at KDV Tomsk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dawoud Assoumani and KDV Tomsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.