That is the business done at Luki-Energiya 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.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
“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; Luki-Energiya are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Pugachevskiy 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 Valentin Andyamov is on it.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Spartak Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Kazakov 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Luki-Energiya 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 The request is on a desk at Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Rafal Szymanski could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.44
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.44, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
A mark of 8.30 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 16-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya 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 Ruslan Kazakov 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 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 Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya 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 Ivan Pugachevskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to Yenisey. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
87% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Luki-Energiya has been clear about where Karim El Mohamady stands, which is more than many ever get.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Yenisey is saying, and nobody at Luki-Energiya is enjoying the guessing.
Ilja Salnikov 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 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Luki-Energiya can tell you which week it ends in.
Ilja Salnikov 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. Saturn have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Kazakov 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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Amkar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Luki-Energiya can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Pugachevskiy 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. 53 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 Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadRuslan Kazakov falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Ilja Salnikov 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 Roman Minaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Luki-Energiya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Still no offer on the table, and Nikita Scherbiy’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Luki-Energiya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Luki-Energiya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metallurg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Galimov and Luki-Energiya agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Ivan Pugachevskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kirill Butsev 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.
In brief
BoardroomThe borrowing at Luki-Energiya reaches $4.1M
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Luki-Energiya will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Luki-Energiya is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karim El Mohamady will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to Spartak Kostroma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to Krasnodar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Luki-Energiya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Dinamo Makhachkala 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 Ivan Pugachevskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to KAMAZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Spartak Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 3, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ilja Salnikov 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 Jun 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Minaev 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Luki-Energiya have had the benefit of it.
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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Salnikov 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Nikita Scherbiy arrives at Luki-Energiya with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Ivan Vozrastov arrives at Luki-Energiya with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Valentin Andyamov 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Ilja Salnikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadA muscle injury sidelines Viktor Anokhin for 14 days
Luki-Energiya did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Minaev 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 Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya, another week without a signature from Martin Ajer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Ajer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 3, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Luki-Energiya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya 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 Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad12 May 2031
6 new faces, and Luki-Energiya are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Salnikov 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Luki-Energiya will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Luki-Energiya did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Minaev 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 Ivan Petrov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Luki-Energiya the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Luki-Energiya have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Yefrem Zaytsev. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
Matvey Kholin 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 Ilja Salnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Luki-Energiya told Ivan Petrov 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 Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Luki-Energiya could ask drops and the wages Martin Ajer can ask rise.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Roman Minaev are not good
Bistrica have made their interest known and Luki-Energiya have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Pugachevskiy and Luki-Energiya agree another 4 years.
Ivan Pugachevskiy 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Ilja Salnikov 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. $3.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Luki-Energiya have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Yefrem Zaytsev. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya 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.
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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Roman Minaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Salnikov 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.
Everybody at Luki-Energiya saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Ivan Pugachevskiy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Salnikov 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 easiest signature of my career.” Platon Morozov and Luki-Energiya agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Pugachevskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Luki-Energiya would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Position 3, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Ilja Salnikov 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 Roman Minaev 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. $3.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
2 appearances, 1 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Luki-Energiya will have this month.
Luki-Energiya did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya 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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Saturn said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Boris Erofeev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. German Konstantinov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikolai Goncharov 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.
KäPa have made their interest known and Luki-Energiya have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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. KAMAZ have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya 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 Valentin Andyamov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Luki-Energiya are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Luki-Energiya 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.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Roman Minaev 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yefrem Zaytsev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Luki-Energiya dressing room was either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Volgar 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.
Ilja Salnikov 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Roman Minaev 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 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Dinamo St Petersburg, 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: CSKA Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya 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. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Saturn said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match1 Feb 2031
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Luki-Energiya. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Luki-Energiya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya 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.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to Leningradets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Spartak Moscow 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 11‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Luki-Energiya were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Fedor Kolesnikov, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 9.91
A mark of 9.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Luki-Energiya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 7.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.87, and 2 involvements.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Luki-Energiya, and 2 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Luki-Energiya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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. Luki-Energiya will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Yefrem Zaytsev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan Pulisic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ilja Salnikov 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: Roman Minaev. 3‑1 against Kuban, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom30 Dec 2030
172% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Luki-Energiya will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking 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.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Luki-Energiya will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Minaev 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 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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Luki-Energiya could ask drops and the wages Vitaly Tsikishev can ask rise.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fedor Kolesnikov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutMaksim Rakov asks for a word with the manager
SquadRoman Minaev is not doing himself any favours
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Minaev 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dinamo Vologda; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 brace, and Ivan Petrov takes the afternoon — 7.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Petrov provided it, and the 7.96 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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Ivan Petrov 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: Ivan Petrov. 2‑0 against Torpedo Vladimir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan Pulisic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yefrem Zaytsev on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matvey Kholin 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.
Position 2, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Ilja Salnikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 16 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roman Minaev. 1‑0 against Kaluga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Minaev 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. $4.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Half the programme played, position 2, 31 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Luki-Energiya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Luki-Energiya, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan Pulisic 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vitaly Tsikishev 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 Roman Minaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Yefrem Zaytsev could afford to be generous.
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 Ilja Salnikov signs something — a contract at Luki-Energiya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
176% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Minaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Goga Mikautadze and Luki-Energiya agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It needed Roman Minaev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Murom, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yefrem Zaytsev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Luki-Energiya dressing room was either.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Yefrem Zaytsev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan Pulisic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Roman Minaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Luki-Energiya game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rodina M runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yefrem Zaytsev after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Roman Minaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Luki-Energiya 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. Vitaly Tsikishev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Roman Minaev on the training pitch
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 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.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
194% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.78, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
20 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya 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 Roman Minaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Luki-Energiya know it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Spartak Moscow 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 14‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Luki-Energiya were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.95, and 6 involvements.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fedor Kolesnikov did not need any: 9.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.81, and involved in 3 of his side's goals.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
14 goals in one match, Roman Minaev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Luki-Energiya and Spartak Moscow 2.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Roman Minaev at his very best
Yenisey 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Luki-Energiya were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Ilja Salnikov, marked 7.72, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roman Minaev and Luki-Energiya agree another 1 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Andyamov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Luki-Energiya close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan Pulisic 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.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to PSK Pervorechenskoe. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vitaly Tsikishev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Artem Karpekin’s negotiating for him
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Artem Karpekin 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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Leningradets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Yegor Pankov 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 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 Luki-Energiya, another week without a signature from Artem Karpekin.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Luki-Energiya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davud Şabanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Luki-Energiya asked and PSK Pervorechenskoe 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 Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
A brace, and Adam Claesson takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adam Claesson provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Kirov keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Marked 7.96. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Luki-Energiya and Legion, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadYegor Pankov falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Luki-Energiya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
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 Luki-Energiya 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Eshonxon Jahbarov has his answer from Luki-Energiya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Eshonxon Jahbarov decided nobody was going anywhere. Kosmos had no time left to answer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Stanislav Nuzha had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eshonxon Jahbarov. 4‑3 against Kosmos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Ilja Salnikov 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 Yegor Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Luki-Energiya have done the hard part with Sokol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Veles keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
5 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. Dmitriy Kokorin 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shakhter Donetsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Artem Karpekin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amkar have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Luki-Energiya, 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentin Andyamov and Luki-Energiya agree another 3 years.
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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Dinamo Kirov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Yegor Pankov 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 name of Stanislav Nuzha has come up in conversations Luki-Energiya were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davud Şabanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ilja Salnikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veles have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya 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. $4.1M 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 Luki-Energiya, another week without a signature from Artem Karpekin.
Still no offer on the table, and Vitaly Tsikishev’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Luki-Energiya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ilja Salnikov 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 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 Jun 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Artem Karpekin 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 Yegor Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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 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 dugoutIlja Medvedev knocks on the manager's door
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Luki-Energiya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davud Şabanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Yegor Pankov 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.
21 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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 Luki-Energiya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Karim El Mohamady trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Eshonxon Jahbarov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Nuzha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya 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 Pankov 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 Adam Claesson is on it.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Luki-Energiya could ask drops and the wages Artem Karpekin can ask rise.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Luki-Energiya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davud Şabanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
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 is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Ilja Salnikov was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Luki-Energiya is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Rostislav Polyakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordan Pulisic 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 Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Yegor Pankov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them 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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Luki-Energiya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Nuzha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Yegor Pankov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Luki-Energiya has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Luki-Energiya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davud Şabanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davud Şabanov 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Luki-Energiya are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Rostislav Polyakov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
46 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom25 Mar 2030
130% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Luki-Energiya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Yegor Pankov 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eshonxon Jahbarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Luki-Energiya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Luki-Energiya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amkar have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Yegor Pankov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Luki-Energiya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Yegor Pankov 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.
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
141% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
Luki-Energiya have made the call to KAMAZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Add another name to the list: Neftyanik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Davud Şabanov. The answer from Luki-Energiya has not changed — yet.
The deal with Rubin 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.
Artem Karpekin 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 Pankov 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. Luki-Energiya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Luki-Energiya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Spartak Tambov 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.
Ilja Salnikov 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 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Yegor Pankov 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 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Legion waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Luki-Energiya
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Luki-Energiya asked and Amkar 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 Feb 2030
Yegor Pankov 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 Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Legion will make the call about Davud Şabanov this week. Luki-Energiya have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Yegor Pankov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom28 Jan 2030
144% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Eshonxon Jahbarov has his answer from Luki-Energiya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Luki-Energiya know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Luki-Energiya 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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 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 Luki-Energiya know it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Yegor Borisov will call it something else in private.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ilja Salnikov 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 Pankov 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.15, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Yefrem Zaytsev left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Yegor Pankov 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Luki-Energiya has been clear about where Davud Şabanov stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Luki-Energiya, another week without a signature from Artem Karpekin.
Artem Karpekin 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Yegor Pankov 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Pankov signs something — a contract at Luki-Energiya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Grigory Tarnov’s negotiating for him
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Nuzha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yefrem Zaytsev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
12 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artem Karpekin. 2‑1 against Saturn, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Ilja Salnikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Yegor Pankov 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yegor Pankov. 1‑0 against Dinamo Vologda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Yegor Pankov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yefrem Zaytsev kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Yegor Pankov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
149% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
“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 Luki-Energiya know it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Yegor Pankov 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 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 Luki-Energiya know it.
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Galimov signs something — a contract at Luki-Energiya 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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Grigory Tarnov’s negotiating for him
Two goals and a mark of 9.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Luki-Energiya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Artem Karpekin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Luki-Energiya told Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yefrem Zaytsev kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Yegor Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Yegor Pankov 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.
0‑1 to Murom, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Yefrem Zaytsev left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Luki-Energiya told Semyon Bobylev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Galimov signs something — a contract at Luki-Energiya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Eshonxon Jahbarov 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Luki-Energiya would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luki-Energiya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Luki-Energiya. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.