From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Imeryakov
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Dec 2029
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 46 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Dec 2029
Matvey Papulin 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 dugout17 Dec 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Maxim Yablonskiy plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Imeryakov
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molodechno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Syapich and Molodechno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Dec 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Ivan Vorobjev.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Dec 2029
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market3 Dec 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Tkhagalegov 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Artem Syapich 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 dugout3 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Krasimir Kapov, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market3 Dec 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Dec 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danila Tretyak signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Imeryakov
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Nov 2029
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Molodechno had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 Nov 2029
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
Krasimir Kapov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Krasimir Kapov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Nov 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pavel Pampukha’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Nov 2029
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Nov 2029
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 46 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Tkhagalegov 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market19 Nov 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molodechno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Artem Syapich is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Nov 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molodechno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Tkhagalegov 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 dugout12 Nov 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market12 Nov 2029
Kirill Yablonski is 19, and Molodechno have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kirill Yablonski and Molodechno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market12 Nov 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Molodechno will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Nov 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Nov 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vladislav Dybin commits to Molodechno for another 2 years.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market5 Nov 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patryk Mackiewicz 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 dugout5 Nov 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market5 Nov 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danila Tretyak signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Oct 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Oct 2029
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Hleb Skavysh, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad29 Oct 2029
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Molodechno will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Tkhagalegov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Papulin, and the manager let it.
Market29 Oct 2029
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Molodechno could ask drops and the wages Gadjimurad Abdullaev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Oct 2029
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 46 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Tkhagalegov 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad22 Oct 2029
The training reports on Danila Tretyak are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market15 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molodechno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Krasimir Kapov
“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.
Market15 Oct 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Patryk Mackiewicz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Patryk Mackiewicz has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
The clock does Ivan Vorobjev’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Molodechno could ask drops and the wages Ivan Vorobjev can ask rise.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Molodechno would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Oct 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxim Yablonskiy and Molodechno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Yassine Bara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Market8 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Vladislav Dybin.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Krasimir Kapov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Krasimir Kapov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market8 Oct 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danila Tretyak signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A season on the outside for Raman Dragun
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Molodechno has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Molodechno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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 Oct 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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 dugout1 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Grishkov, and the manager let it.
Market1 Oct 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market1 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pavel Pampukha’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market1 Oct 2029
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Molodechno could ask drops and the wages Gadjimurad Abdullaev can ask rise.
Squad1 Oct 2029
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 Molodechno would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match24 Sep 2029
46 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad24 Sep 2029
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Egor Imeryakov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gadjimurad Abdullaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patryk Mackiewicz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danila Kashtelyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molodechno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Danila Kashtelyan has agreed terms with Naftan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2029
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Molodechno will try again when the window opens; Belshina may not be selling by then.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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 dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Andrey Alshanik
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market17 Sep 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Danila Kashtelyan.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2029
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Smorgon moved on, Gadjimurad Abdullaev reports back to Molodechno, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 11 in, 7 out at Molodechno
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Molodechno have done the hard part with Belshina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
85% of the income goes out in wages at Molodechno
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 dugout10 Sep 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Molodechno and Lida have settled on $470.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Everything agreed with Naftan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Sep 2029
Still no offer on the table, and Gadjimurad Abdullaev’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Kravchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Sep 2029
At 15 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Market3 Sep 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Viktar Palitsevich has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Molodechno.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Aug 2029
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 46 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Marked 7.94 at 15, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Molodechno have gone to Belshina with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
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.
Market27 Aug 2029
Smorgon are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Molodechno will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The terraces27 Aug 2029
He is 15 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.
Match25 Aug 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kirill Palitsevich. 2‑0 against Uni-X Labs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Tkhagalegov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Naftan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Molodechno offered $480.0K; Lida said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Molodechno asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Aug 2029
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Tkhagalegov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
A loan move for Danila Sokol is in the works
Molodechno have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anton Rios and Molodechno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smorgon waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Molodechno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
$480.0K on the table at Lida. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Belshina wanted more than $26.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match11 Aug 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad13 Aug 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Vadzim Kislyak to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad6 Aug 2029
9 seasons and 127 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Molodechno asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match4 Aug 2029
A 2‑0 win over Osipovichi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Looking ahead6 Aug 2029
The big one: Lida come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Molodechno will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Jul 2029
The small margins put Molodechno out
Out, 0‑1 to Dinamo Minsk, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market30 Jul 2029
Vitebsk come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Molodechno did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Match30 Jul 2029
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 39 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Fee done, terms next for Artem Turich
Molodechno and Minsk have settled on $730.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Baranovichi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Yassine Bara 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Jul 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Bumprom Gomel, and it could have been more.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.64, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market23 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Yushkevich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molodechno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Naftan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Arseniy Yushkevich has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
$480.0K on the table at Lida. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 terraces23 Jul 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Arseniy Yushkevich 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.
In brief
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Match
Another one collected away from home
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Gleb Guletskiy
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Player ratings
Yassine Bara runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jul 2029
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
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.
Match14 Jul 2029
Three points for Molodechno, 2‑0 the final word against Niva in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Dinamo Minsk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
$800.0K settles it between the clubs for Golden Mafwenta
Naftan have accepted the money. What Molodechno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lida is saying, and nobody at Molodechno is enjoying the guessing.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Tkhagalegov and Molodechno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Wages swallow 93% of the Molodechno income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
Yassine Bara gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yassine Bara is on it.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Matvey Papulin
“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.
Market9 Jul 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Molodechno and Dinamo Minsk have settled on $690.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
$480.0K was the most the club would pay and Lida were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Gleb Guletskiy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Smorgon have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexey Tkhagalegov commits to Molodechno for another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Krasimir Kapov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Molodechno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
$5.0K settles it between the clubs for Hleb Yablonski
Neman have accepted the money. What Molodechno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Molodechno have gone to Lida with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad25 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Match23 Jun 2029
0‑1 to Naftan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Jun 2029
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Artem Abramov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Vladislav Dybin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Match16 Jun 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gadjimurad Abdullaev. 1‑0 against Orsha, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Molodechno had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vadzim Kislyak, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead18 Jun 2029
Naftan next, and one man in the Molodechno dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jun 2029
0‑3 to Lokomotiv Gomel, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
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 dugout11 Jun 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Yassine Bara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Market11 Jun 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jun 2029
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match30 May 2029
A 0‑0 win over Isloch, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 terraces4 Jun 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Patryk Mackiewicz 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.
Match2 Jun 2029
Ostrovets made Molodechno work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad4 Jun 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 May 2029
Molodechno refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 24 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara 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.
Match26 May 2029
Three points for Molodechno, 1‑0 the final word against Uni-X Labs in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 May 2029
7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Molodechno had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 May 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.” Vadzim Kislyak kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 May 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Molodechno told Vladislav Dybin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead28 May 2029
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ostrovets in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout28 May 2029
Danila Kashtelyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 May 2029
Yassine Bara beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout21 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 May 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match19 May 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Volna Pinsk will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout21 May 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead21 May 2029
Uni-X Labs next, and one man in the Molodechno dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 May 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Match12 May 2029
A bad afternoon for Molodechno against Lida
1‑3 to Lida, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Yassine Bara beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 May 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 May 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Vadzim Kislyak to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 May 2029
Yassine Bara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 May 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Player ratings7 May 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad7 May 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Match5 May 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Molodechno did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 May 2029
A 2‑1 win over Osipovichi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Looking ahead7 May 2029
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.
Squad7 May 2029
The award goes to Pavel Pampukha, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Market7 May 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Apr 2029
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Apr 2029
Molodechno refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 17 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Match28 Apr 2029
After 4 games, Molodechno finally taste it again
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 Slonim; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Danila Tretyak now has 25 of them across 115 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Nobody on the pitch touched Yassine Bara
7.23, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Molodechno had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Imeryakov
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Apr 2029
3‑0, and Maxim Yablonskiy took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Molodechno tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Age has not caught Pavel Pampukha yet — 9.19
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match21 Apr 2029
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Molodechno have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Vadzim Kislyak could afford to be generous.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Matvey Papulin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad16 Apr 2029
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match14 Apr 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Niva, and it could have been more.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
A brace, and Maxim Yablonskiy takes the afternoon — 9.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maxim Yablonskiy provided it, and the 9.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad16 Apr 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Pavel Pampukha, 33, rolls back the years — 9.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match14 Apr 2029
Nobody wants to play Molodechno right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara 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.
Match14 Apr 2029
Molodechno settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Niva spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Yassine Bara at his very best
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
When it matters, Yassine Bara plays
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Apr 2029
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match4 Apr 2029
A 2‑1 win over Baranovichi, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
What a way to start for Tomas Coufal — 7.70
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.70 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad9 Apr 2029
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Uladzislau Kavalyou did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 terraces9 Apr 2029
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Apr 2029
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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.
Match31 Mar 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pavel Pampukha. 1‑0 against Baranovichi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gadjimurad Abdullaev is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.51 on the card, and the Molodechno support went home talking about one name.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Market2 Apr 2029
Artem Abramov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Molodechno has been clear about where Artem Abramov stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Gleb Guletskiy 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 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Mar 2029
0‑2 to Naftan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vadzim Kislyak after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Molodechno can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Matvey Papulin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Mar 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Imeryakov
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Stanislav Atrashkevich scored, was marked 7.87, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Match17 Mar 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stanislav Atrashkevich. 1‑0 against Orsha, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout19 Mar 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.” Vadzim Kislyak kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead19 Mar 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andrey Alshanik’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Molodechno needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Mar 2029
Egor Imeryakov damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Molodechno scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
7.89, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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 terraces12 Mar 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Viktar Palitsevich 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Molodechno. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
The clock did what Lida would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Mar 2029
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Age has not caught Pavel Pampukha yet — 7.82
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxim Yablonskiy and Molodechno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
5 academy graduates step up at Molodechno
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Yassine Bara 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.
Market5 Mar 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hleb Klimovich 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.
Market5 Mar 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valery Makas 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Feb 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov damages knee ligaments — 94 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gadjimurad Abdullaev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Fee done, terms next for Ivan Veras
Molodechno and Lida have settled on $22.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Molodechno close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
The window shuts on the Makar Suschiy deal
Molodechno ran out of time with Slutsk. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Krasimir Kapov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Feb 2029
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Dinamo Minsk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market19 Feb 2029
The name of Gadjimurad Abdullaev has come up in conversations Molodechno were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
Yassine Bara gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yassine Bara is on it.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market19 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Pampukha signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad19 Feb 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Molodechno would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
$460.0K settles it between the clubs for Alfred Mazurich
Lida have accepted the money. What Molodechno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Molodechno offered $280.0K; Dinamo Minsk said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danila Kashtelyan, and the manager let it.
Market12 Feb 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Matvey Papulin.
Squad12 Feb 2029
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Feb 2029
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molodechno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Hleb Shikavka out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match5 Feb 2029
Molodechno refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 40 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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The deal with Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
$280.0K on the table at Dinamo Minsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Gleb Guletskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Market5 Feb 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A fracture rules Hleb Shikavka out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 Jan 2029
Artem Abramov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Smorgon have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Naftan have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Torpedo-BelAZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Hleb Shikavka breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
Krasimir Kapov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molodechno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market22 Jan 2029
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market22 Jan 2029
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
Yassine Bara gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yassine Bara is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jan 2029
Alexey Tkhagalegov damages knee ligaments — 141 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 141 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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 Jan 2029
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Molodechno will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Krasimir Kapov, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Gleb Guletskiy asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market15 Jan 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molodechno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market15 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Maxim Klunok.
Market15 Jan 2029
Molodechno shop where it costs nothing
Daniil Grishkov signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Jan 2029
Molodechno refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 40 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market8 Jan 2029
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Egor Hryshyn and Molodechno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Gleb Guletskiy knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gleb Guletskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market8 Jan 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Uladzislau Kavalyou is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jan 2029
A fracture rules Hleb Shikavka out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molodechno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Yassine Bara 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 dugout1 Jan 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market1 Jan 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Molodechno than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Nobody at Molodechno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Hleb Shikavka out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Dec 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Uladzislau Kavalyou and Molodechno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Dec 2028
33 days out for Hleb Shikavka after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Uladzislau Kavalyou and Molodechno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market18 Dec 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molodechno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
Hleb Shikavka breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match11 Dec 2028
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 40 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Yassine Bara 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kholyusev, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Uladzislau Kavalyou is on it.
Market11 Dec 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Molodechno money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
Hleb Shikavka breaks a bone — 48 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Dec 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Klunok
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Klunok will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molodechno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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 dugout4 Dec 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout4 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Krasimir Kapov
“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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Tkhagalegov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
55 days out for Hleb Shikavka after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Matvey Papulin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molodechno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Grekovich, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Yassine Bara gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yassine Bara is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Yassine Bara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Nov 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molodechno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager plants his flag on Krasimir Kapov
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Krasimir Kapov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Nov 2028
40 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Mardas, and the manager let it.
Market13 Nov 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Vladislav Grekovich.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molodechno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molodechno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Maxim Klunok has agreed terms with Slutsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pavel Pampukha commits to Molodechno for another 3 years.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 dugout6 Nov 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market6 Nov 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Gleb Guletskiy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market30 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Pampukha signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Tkhagalegov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Krasimir Kapov has written the date down.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Oct 2028
Molodechno are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 40 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Krasimir Kapov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Nobody at Molodechno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Molodechno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Grekovich, and the manager let it.
Market9 Oct 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Vladislav Grekovich.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arseniy Yushkevich is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Molodechno, another week without a signature from Pavel Pampukha.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Grekovich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Pampukha signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gleb Guletskiy has written the date down.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The training reports on Matvey Papulin are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Sep 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
A promise honoured at Molodechno
Something was said to Stanislav Atrashkevich and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market25 Sep 2028
Molodechno have made Artem Abramov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2028
40 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Bara is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
The clock did what Dinamo Minsk would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market18 Sep 2028
The window shut and Gadjimurad Abdullaev is still in the building
Molodechno spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market18 Sep 2028
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Molodechno could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Molodechno 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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The deal with Dinamo Minsk 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gleb Guletskiy and Molodechno agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Gleb Guletskiy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The clock did what Orsha would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Krasimir Kapov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molodechno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The deal with Torpedo-BelAZ 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.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Volna Pinsk; Molodechno go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
A loan enquiry to Torpedo-BelAZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Yassine Bara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Gleb Guletskiy has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Molodechno asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Aug 2028
A 2‑1 win over Uni-X Labs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Vitaliy Kislyak 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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.” Vadzim Kislyak kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
A promise honoured at Molodechno
Something was said to Gadjimurad Abdullaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match21 Aug 2028
37 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
$960.0K settles it between the clubs for Anton Suchkov
Torpedo-BelAZ have accepted the money. What Molodechno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molodechno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
A 2‑1 win over Baranovichi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Tkhagalegov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Vitebsk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The deal with Dinamo Minsk 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Volna Pinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Aug 2028
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vadzim Kislyak after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Molodechno — 7.83
1 for Stanislav Atrashkevich, marked 7.83, 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Belashevich and Molodechno agree another 4 years.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Arseniy Yushkevich 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Dybin 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The Molodechno board find $466.1K for the manager
Money, not words, and it is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending $466.1K well is entirely his problem now.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Dinamo Minsk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Molodechno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
Late, late show earns Molodechno a point
Minute 89, against Slonim, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Market31 Jul 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gadjimurad Abdullaev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Molodechno.
Match29 Jul 2028
It needed Gadjimurad Abdullaev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Slonim, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Vitebsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Mardas 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
The afternoon belonged to Maxim Mardas
A mark of 7.71, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Jul 2028
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Artem Abramov breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Jul 2028
The match ball belongs to Pavel Pampukha, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.51, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match17 Jul 2028
Molodechno refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 29 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.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The deal with Minsk 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Bara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑0, Vadzim Kislyak could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jul 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gleb Guletskiy commits to Molodechno for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Yassine Bara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kholyusev, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead10 Jul 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Pavel Pampukha’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Molodechno needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
30 days out for Artem Abramov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Fee done, terms next for Oleg Tyulkov
Molodechno and Orsha have settled on $50.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Stanislav Atrashkevich scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Yassine Bara beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Danila Tretyak
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jun 2028
37 days out for Artem Abramov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.75, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Vitebsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market26 Jun 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Azam Radzhabov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Molodechno have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Looking ahead26 Jun 2028
The big one: Belshina come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Molodechno will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jun 2028
44 days out for Artem Abramov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The deal with Torpedo-BelAZ 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market19 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Stanislav Atrashkevich has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Molodechno.
Match17 Jun 2028
0‑1 to Isloch, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vadzim Kislyak after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jun 2028
51 days out for Artem Abramov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Jun 2028
23 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molodechno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Mardas 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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anton Chalavach is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Jun 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vadzim Martynovich 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 May 2028
The small margins put Molodechno out
Out, 0‑3 to Dinamo Brest, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 58 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces5 Jun 2028
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Alexey Tkhagalegov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Egor Imeryakov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Vladislav Dybin 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 May 2028
Hleb Shikavka damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Artem Abramov breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Yassine Bara beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings29 May 2028
A brace, and Pavel Pampukha takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pavel Pampukha provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad29 May 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Match27 May 2028
A 2‑1 win over Uni-X Labs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad29 May 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings29 May 2028
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Molodechno, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout29 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vadzim Kislyak, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
Hleb Shikavka damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
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.
Market22 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 May 2028
Artem Abramov breaks a bone — 73 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 May 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 May 2028
0‑1 to Baranovichi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 May 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vadzim Kislyak after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Krasimir Kapov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molodechno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 May 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match13 May 2028
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Molodechno scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings15 May 2028
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gadjimurad Abdullaev provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 May 2028
Volna Pinsk made Molodechno work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match13 May 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Molodechno. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Dybin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 May 2028
Artem Abramov breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 May 2028
Oleg Diva hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 May 2028
8 matches without defeat, and then Orsha. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad8 May 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Egor Imeryakov and Molodechno agree another 4 years.
Match6 May 2028
0‑1 to Orsha, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 May 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout8 May 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vadzim Kislyak after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 May 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Apr 2028
Whatever happens, Molodechno do not lose
8 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pavel Pampukha. 2‑0 against Slonim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Pavel Pampukha was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 May 2028
31 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout1 May 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Vadzim Kislyak could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 105 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Match22 Apr 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Molodechno did not have in the autumn.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
The game went through Ivan Vorobjev — 7.12
Marked 7.12 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Vladislav Dybin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match22 Apr 2028
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Molodechno had all but put away. Bumprom Gomel will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Match22 Apr 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Apr 2028
Artem Abramov breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Apr 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Molodechno did not have in the autumn.
Match15 Apr 2028
Three points for Molodechno, 2‑0 the final word against Niva in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes of Yassine Bara at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Molodechno.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Gleb Guletskiy 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Vadzim Kislyak could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 122 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
A brace, and Yassine Bara takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yassine Bara provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market10 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vadzim Kislyak on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Market10 Apr 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fedor Solovey has his answer from Molodechno; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Yassine Bara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Molodechno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Artem Abramov out for 130 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molodechno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Pavel Pampukha 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Dybin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vadzim Kislyak chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Market3 Apr 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandr Bakinovskiy has his answer from Molodechno; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
137 days out for Artem Abramov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molodechno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Molodechno are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match25 Mar 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Osipovichi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molodechno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2028
Artem Abramov breaks a bone — 144 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 144 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Matvey Papulin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vadzim Kislyak after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match18 Mar 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Isloch will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead20 Mar 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Osipovichi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market20 Mar 2028
The name of Pavel Pampukha keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Molodechno say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Nobody at Molodechno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Molodechno — 7.85
1 for Egor Imeryakov, marked 7.85, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Vladislav Dybin 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.
Match11 Mar 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Egor Imeryakov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Molodechno.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market13 Mar 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Mar 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molodechno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Molodechno moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Vadzim Kislyak, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Match4 Mar 2028
The wait goes on for Molodechno
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match4 Mar 2028
The goals have deserted Molodechno
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Molodechno can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets6 Mar 2028
Molodechno asked and Dnepr Mogilev said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dmitry Roslyakov is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Molodechno close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Too much change too quickly at Molodechno
8 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Gleb Guletskiy 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molodechno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Vladislav Dybin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Minsk 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Molodechno are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Artem Kholyusev asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Molodechno would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Molodechno have done the hard part with Vitebsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Pavel Pampukha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Molodechno offered $51.0K; Isloch said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Patryk Mackiewicz has just signed for Molodechno, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market14 Feb 2028
Patryk Mackiewicz is 19, and Molodechno have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market14 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danila Tretyak signs something — a contract at Molodechno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Nobody at Molodechno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molodechno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Feb 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gadjimurad Abdullaev is living that version at Molodechno, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
$38.0K on the table at Isloch. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Molodechno asked and Dnepr Mogilev said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Kravchenko commits to Molodechno for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Krasimir Kapov, and the manager let it.
Market7 Feb 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2028
Pavel Pampukha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Dybin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Too much change too quickly at Molodechno
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Kravchenko commits to Molodechno for another 3 years.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Open for business: Molodechno enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2028
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molodechno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Molodechno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Yablonskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Molodechno. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Molodechno have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Market24 Jan 2028
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Maxim Klunok arrives at Molodechno with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market24 Jan 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arseniy Yushkevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.