59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$70.0K was the most the club would pay and Minsk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tymoteusz Ryguła was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ilja Molteninov 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Naftan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Up for the corner, and Artur Tishko delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Artur Tishko scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vyacheslav Khudoklinov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Naftan ran out of time with Neman. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Tymoteusz Ryguła 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Neman have accepted the money. What Naftan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Naftan have gone to Minsk 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Brest have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseniy Galushko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Naftan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naftan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Minsk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$230.0K on the table at Neman. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Naftan 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tymoteusz Ryguła is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yaroslav Chistyakov is on it.
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naftan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Naftan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Torpedo-BelAZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tymoteusz Ryguła was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naftan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slavia Mozyr is saying, and nobody at Naftan is enjoying the guessing.
Naftan have gone to Minsk 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.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
“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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseniy Galushko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Crăciun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Brest have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tymoteusz Ryguła was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Naftan have made the call to Slavia Mozyr. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alimkhan Zainivov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Egor Yuschenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Tymoteusz Ryguła 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.
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseniy Galushko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Alimkhan Zainivov has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tymoteusz Ryguła 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Egor Yuschenko signs something — a contract at Naftan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Naftan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Artur Tishko's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseniy Galushko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naftan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Kamil Pędzich are not good
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tymoteusz Ryguła is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Maxim Sapriko’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Egor Yuschenko signs something — a contract at Naftan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseniy Galushko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
The dugoutMaxim Sapriko asks for a word with the manager
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.
7 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alimkhan Zainivov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Naftan 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseniy Galushko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Golden Mafwenta is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Alexandr Shvedchikov.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Egor Yuschenko signs something — a contract at Naftan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Kamil Pędzich arrives at Naftan with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Naftan will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
Artur Tishko is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
“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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Molteninov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naftan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Evgeniy Gremza is a Naftan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseniy Galushko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yaroslav Chistyakov is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tymoteusz Ryguła was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ilja Molteninov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Sapriko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Naftan has been clear about where Luca Crăciun stands, which is more than many ever get.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Naftan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Egor Yuschenko signs something — a contract at Naftan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout8 Oct 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Hleb Laptev to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Maksim Dragun is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Naftan pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Artur Tishko's mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Marcel Stenka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Naftan.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseniy Galushko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 7.54 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ilja Molteninov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tymoteusz Ryguła has, at Naftan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tymoteusz Ryguła was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marcel Stenka has his answer from Naftan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
The dugoutMarcel Stenka knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Egor Yuschenko 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.
Something was said to Marcel Stenka and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hleb Laptev on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Golden Mafwenta is on it.
That is the business done at Naftan 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naftan have done the hard part with Neman, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Naftan ran out of time with Neman. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Alexandr Shvedchikov.
The clubs have shaken hands with Neman; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.85 for the rest of it.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Naftan offered $57.0K; Neman 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.
Naftan asked and Gomel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Gomel this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer went to Neman this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Ilja Molteninov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vladislav Kostryukov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Naftan.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Hleb Laptev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Ilja Molteninov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The deal with Neman is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The offer went to Smorgon this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Ilja Molteninov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.07, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Hleb Laptev could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutGolden Mafwenta has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Neman, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Naftan asked and Torpedo-BelAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Arseniy Galushko 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.
8.08. 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Naftan pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Neman have accepted the money. What Naftan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Shvedchikov. 1‑0 against Minsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Naftan asked and Neman said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alikhan Fazylov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ilja Molteninov. 1‑0 against Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Dinamo Brest 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.
Naftan 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.
The offer went to Smorgon this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with 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.
Naftan have gone to Dinamo Minsk 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.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Naftan 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Minsk have accepted the money. What Naftan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$56.0K was the most the club would pay and Neman 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
$500.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to Dinamo Brest, the club has $500.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naftan have done the hard part with Volna Pinsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Dinamo Minsk this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Naftan asked and Torpedo-BelAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Naftan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Ilja Molteninov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alimkhan Zainivov. 1‑0 against Molodechno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Naftan told Ilja Molteninov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
$510.0K settles it between the clubs for Vadim Kiselev
Torpedo-BelAZ have accepted the money. What Naftan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer went to Dinamo Minsk this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Position 11, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naftan have done the hard part with BATE, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Isloch were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Alikhan Fazylov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Zakhar Gitselev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vyacheslav Khudoklinov and Naftan agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alimkhan Zainivov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hleb Laptev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutZakhar Gitselev has become a man the manager trusts
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Hleb Laptev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Naftan have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Yaroslav Chistyakov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Naftan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ilja Molteninov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 6.96 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Torpedo-BelAZ? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Ilja Molteninov 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.
Something was said to Grigory Lovtsov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Zakhar Gitselev is on it.
The dugout14 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hleb Laptev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Naftan dressing room was either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Maxim Druchik.
0‑3 against Dinamo Minsk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everybody at Naftan saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Arseniy Galushko 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hleb Laptev after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zakhar Gitselev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 goals in one match, Zakhar Gitselev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Naftan and Osipovichi.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Egor Yuschenko 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Galushko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alikhan Fazylov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
0‑1 to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Hleb Laptev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Naftan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A 3‑0 win over Slonim, 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
A brace, and Ivan Tikhonov takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Tikhonov provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.23 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 combined actions and 6.90. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Naftan has been clear about where Daniil Baran stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vyacheslav Khudoklinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ilja Molteninov 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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.” Hleb Laptev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luca Crăciun has his answer from Naftan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The 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.” Hleb Laptev kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Naftan 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Anton Gordeichuk has just signed for Naftan, and for once the answer mattered.
Belshina will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Daniil Kulikov has pre-agreed a move to Naftan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.90, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Naftan were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Egor Yuschenko.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zakhar Gitselev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Zakhar Gitselev 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arseniy Galushko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Naftan have made the call to Dinamo Brest. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naftan have done the hard part with Neman, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Golden Mafwenta is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcel Stenka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 6 on 40 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Naftan and Torpedo-BelAZ have settled on $550.0K. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Naftan asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Brest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Maxim Sapriko has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Naftan has been clear about where Zakhar Gitselev stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Naftan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Kostryukov and Naftan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alimkhan Zainivov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Timur Galimzyanov is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Daniil Baran.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naftan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Naftan would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Nobody at Naftan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
40 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
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 Naftan would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Egor Yuschenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Ivan Tikhonov is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Naftan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcel Stenka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Egor Yuschenko.
Nobody at Naftan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Naftan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 6 on 40 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Tikhonov is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alimkhan Zainivov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Alikhan Fazylov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It 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.
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 Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Naftan know it.
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 Timur Galimzyanov is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Maxim Druchik has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naftan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Tikhonov knocks on the manager’s door
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
8 new faces, and Naftan are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Naftan 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Vladislav Kostryukov.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Naftan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Naftan that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Ilja Molteninov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Naftan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artur Tishko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naftan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Naftan would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
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 Zakhar Gitselev is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Vyacheslav Khudoklinov.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Naftan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Position 6, 40 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Alikhan Fazylov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Sapriko 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hleb Laptev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Naftan dressing room was either.
Golden Mafwenta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ilya Seleznev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Naftan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hleb Laptev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Naftan dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Egor Yuschenko 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hleb Laptev on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Artur Tishko will call it something else in private.
“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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Tikhonov 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.
Something was said to Artur Tishko and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Maxim Druchik has just signed for Naftan, and for once the answer mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Naftan have gone to Torpedo-BelAZ 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.
Ilja Molteninov 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.
Naftan asked and Neman said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemiy Litvinov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Vladislav Kostryukov.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Tikhonov has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutArtur Tishko knocks on the manager's door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naftan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Minsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Golden Mafwenta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alikhan Fazylov 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Naftan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 for Arseniy Galushko, marked 7.88, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: BATE keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Three points for Naftan, 3‑2 the final word against Slavia Mozyr in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naftan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.16. 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemiy Litvinov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Minsk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 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.” Hleb Laptev kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naftan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Minsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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.
Naftan 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naftan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with BATE 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.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Naftan can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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.
Naftan 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naftan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
$900.00 was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Minsk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artemiy Litvinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Naftan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naftan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Naftan have gone to Dinamo Minsk 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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.
Naftan asked and Torpedo-BelAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The name of Matvey Susha has come up in conversations Naftan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Everything agreed with Neman, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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.
Alikhan Fazylov 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.
Torpedo-BelAZ 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naftan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dinamo Brest have accepted the money. What Naftan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
1 for Alikhan Fazylov, marked 7.80, 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.
Yamoussa Camara 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.
$900.00 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.
Naftan asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
$900.00 was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Minsk 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Brest have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Egor Yuschenko. 2‑1 against Torpedo-BelAZ, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have shaken hands with BATE; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Naftan have gone to Dinamo Minsk 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.
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.
Position 9, 18 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hleb Laptev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Artur Tishko
SquadMatvey Susha, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artemiy Litvinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Torpedo-BelAZ 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Hleb Laptev could afford to be generous.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yamoussa Camara 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 Jun 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Sapriko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadA Naftan teenager takes the young player award
“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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Matvey Susha, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑1 win over Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Matvey Susha 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Hleb Laptev could afford to be generous.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Artur Tishko's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad29 May 2028
Matvey Susha, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Naftan would like this to lead.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alexandr Shvedchikov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Naftan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naftan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Matvey Susha had Naftan level again within 3 minutes, and BATE never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout22 May 2028
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 Hleb Laptev to a room that had heard them before.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Alikhan Fazylov 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vitaliy Podshiblov commits to Naftan for another 3 years.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Golden Mafwenta's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hleb Laptev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Matvey Susha is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arseniy Galushko scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matvey Susha. 3‑1 against Baranovichi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemiy Litvinov 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.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Maxim Sapriko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Maxim Sapriko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Naftan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout8 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.” Hleb Laptev, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Golden Mafwenta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Golden Mafwenta is on it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexey Tkhagalegov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad1 May 2028
Matvey Susha, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Naftan would like this to lead.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Baranovichi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Yamoussa Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Zakhar Gitselev is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Alikhan Fazylov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Egor Yuschenko 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemiy Litvinov 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.