Dennis Oalo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Yemelkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladislav Davydov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. KDV Tomsk had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Dennis Oalo 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vadim Guskov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Gonçalo Dias’s negotiating for him
SquadThe training reports on Hugo Basto are not good
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Basto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simone Abbondanza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 4 on 34 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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Vadim Guskov can ask rise.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Dennis Oalo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dennis Oalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladislav Davydov signs something — a contract at KDV Tomsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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.
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.
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 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.
“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 Hugo Basto.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order KDV Tomsk prefer.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vladislav Davydov.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KDV Tomsk told Vyacheslav Kotov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
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 Nov 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Basto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
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 Daniil Kondrakov is on it.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Yemelkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for KDV Tomsk
MarketThe clock does Vadim Guskov’s negotiating for him
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Abbondanza 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dennis Oalo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Lazar Petrovic 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.
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.
“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 Hugo Basto.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
In brief
SquadHugo Basto falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Hugo Basto 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
A 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Dennis Oalo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 3‑1 win over Rubin 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Hugo Basto 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Liam Shephard and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $6.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Hugo Basto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Kondrakov. 3‑1 against Krylya Sovetov 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 19 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.
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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Basto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nikita Simdyankin scored in the 86th minute, Nosta had already begun thinking about the journey home, and KDV Tomsk took the lot.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maksim Chernyshov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Liam Shephard and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
KDV Tomsk asked and Orenburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Half the programme played, position 5, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Hugo Basto 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Hugo Basto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The 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.
Liam Shephard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about KDV Tomsk and Khimik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Hugo Basto 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.
KDV Tomsk asked and Torpedo Vladimir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deal with Torpedo Miass 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Nani Ferreira 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Simdyankin. 3‑2 against Rubin 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Hugo Basto 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.
Hugo Basto 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not 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.
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.
“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.
“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 ratings4 Aug 2031
Anton Lobanov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
The deal with Tyumen is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Vadim Guskov
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Maksim Chernyshov has agreed terms with Murom for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Nani Ferreira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nart have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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.
11 goals in one match, Nikita Simdyankin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KDV Tomsk and Nosta.
Nani Ferreira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
KDV Tomsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Yenisey, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Yegor Yegorov 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kuban Holding keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gustavo Nogueira 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.
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.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sarkis Papazyan has agreed terms with Chelyabinsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Nani Ferreira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
33 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.
“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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin Yalta have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.
40 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Makar Pavlyuchenko can ask rise.
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
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.
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.
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 Jun 2031
Yegor Yegorov 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.
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.
“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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. KDV Tomsk know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“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 Vadim Guskov.
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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Artur Yangaev can ask rise.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. KDV Tomsk had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Nani Ferreira 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 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.
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 Daniil Kondrakov is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KDV Tomsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Nogueira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Aslanbek Kumykov can ask rise.
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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vyacheslav Kotov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Yegorov 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.
“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 Sarkis Papazyan.
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 Daniil Kondrakov is on it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Sarkis Papazyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gleb Zinchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Yegor Yegorov 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
Nani Ferreira 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sarkis Papazyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAnton Lobanov has become a man the manager trusts
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Gleb Zinchenko has agreed terms with Tver for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“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 Artur Yangaev.
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.
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.
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.
KDV Tomsk asked and Yenisey said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KDV Tomsk could ask drops and the wages Nani Ferreira can ask rise.
KDV Tomsk spent the window trying to move Daniil Kondrakov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Sarkis Papazyan.
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.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Artur Yangaev’s negotiating for him
“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.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Yegor Yegorov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vyacheslav Kotov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Nani Ferreira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aslanbek Kumykov, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Yegorov 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.
“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 Aslanbek Kumykov.
“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.
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.
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 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.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Yegorov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I 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.
“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 Vladislav Davydov.
“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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniil Kondrakov has his answer from KDV Tomsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
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.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 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.
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.
Nani Ferreira 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.
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager 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.
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.
“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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. KDV Tomsk had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Nani Ferreira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jonathan Murphy is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vyacheslav Kotov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
22 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.
“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.
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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aslanbek Kumykov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
At 17 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.
29 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.
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.
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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Nogueira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
Artur Yangaev 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Anton Lobanov 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
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.
“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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Maksim Chernyshov 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Volna spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Daniil Kondrakov at his very best
2 behind and going nowhere, until Daniil Kondrakov decided otherwise. Amkar had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
“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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Kondrakov. 3‑2 against Amkar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Rubin 2 the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that KDV Tomsk will enjoy reviewing.
19 combined actions and 7.66. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Nani Ferreira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 9.84 — 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.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between KDV Tomsk and Uralets-TS, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Nani Ferreira 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
A point taken on 96 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
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.
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.
46 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.
“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 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody 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.
53 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Kondrakov. 5‑4 against Nosta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between KDV Tomsk and Nosta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3-6, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Anton Lobanov, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
9 goals in one match, Daniil Kondrakov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KDV Tomsk and Akhmat.
Nani Ferreira 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.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nani Ferreira 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 Sep 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maksim Kozlovsky has his answer from KDV Tomsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It needed Nikita Simdyankin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dinamo Barnaul, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
74 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.
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.
6 goals in one match, Daniil Kondrakov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KDV Tomsk and Chelyabinsk 2.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
0‑3 to Volna, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
KDV Tomsk asked and Torpedo 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The match ball belongs to Daniil Kondrakov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 16 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.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
6 goals in one match, Daniil Kondrakov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KDV Tomsk and Amkar.
Nani Ferreira 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.
It finished 4‑2, and it was Daniil Kondrakov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KDV Tomsk.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin 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.
95 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.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Avangard have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.55 — 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.
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.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 108% of the KDV Tomsk income
Squad13 new faces, and KDV Tomsk are still learning each other
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑3 against Uralets-TS, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. KDV Tomsk were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
109 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
A brace, and Anton Lobanov takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anton Lobanov provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Artem Arsenyev did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
116 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.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Arseniy Emelyanov did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Arseniy Emelyanov 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.
123 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.
“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.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
An order from above at KDV Tomsk: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KDV Tomsk have done the hard part with Torpedo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nani Ferreira 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Two goals and a mark of 9.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nikita Simdyankin had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Nosta were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
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.
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.
Marked 9.79 — 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.
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Timofey Suslov clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Savely Sidorenko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Maxim Garin 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KDV Tomsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Everything agreed with Arsenal Tula, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ufa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
KDV Tomsk asked and Sochi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
23 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.
The deal with Dinamo Makhachkala 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.
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.
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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Yegorov 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftekhimik have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodion Milyukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
KDV Tomsk have made the call to Dinamo Bryansk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Vitaliy Dudko is 18, 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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bogatyr Razhbudinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KDV Tomsk has been clear about where Maksim Chernyshov stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
In brief
The dugoutYegor Yegorov knocks on the manager's door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Igor Sedov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pyotr Karpov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yegor Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KDV Tomsk has been clear about where Bogatyr Razhbudinov stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and KDV Tomsk know which stage they are at.
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 Arseniy Emelyanov is on it.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutYefim Nikitin knocks on the manager's door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yefim Nikitin 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.
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.
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.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Timofey Suslov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin 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.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Alexandr Korotaev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
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 Arseniy Emelyanov is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodion Milyukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Gleb Glushakov 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Chesnokov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 10 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
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.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with KDV Tomsk this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Aleksandr Tarasov is on it.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at KDV Tomsk says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pyotr Karpov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KDV Tomsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vyacheslav Solovyov and KDV Tomsk agree another 3 years.
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.
Position 10 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Simdyankin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vyacheslav Solovyov 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Maksim Chernyshov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 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.
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.
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.
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.
Nikita Simdyankin has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
In brief
The dugoutVadim Kobzev knocks on the manager's door
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.
KDV Tomsk asked and Fakel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Simdyankin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
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.
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.
Alexandr Korotaev has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
KDV Tomsk opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Igor Krylov stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
KDV Tomsk asked and Ural said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with KDV Tomsk this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KDV Tomsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
“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.
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.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Igor Krylov are not good