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.
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.
$27.0K on the table at Bumprom Gomel. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Sergey Bulynenok has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Belshina spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Honved have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alimkhan Zainivov. 1‑0 against Belshina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.16, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
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.
A mark of 8.13 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.
The offer went to Isloch 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.
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.
Naftan asked and Paksi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Mikhail Alexandrov 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 offer from Minsk for Alexey Kharitonovich was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ignat Pranovich provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Tirana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Kharitonovich 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 2‑0 win over Lokomotiv Gomel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
Add another name to the list: Minsk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexey Kharitonovich. The answer from Naftan has not changed — yet.
$56.0K on the table at Isloch. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Naftan asked and Teuta Durrës said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Kharitonovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.68 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.
“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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Isloch have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Aidas Dubickas is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Naftan will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Aidas Dubickas 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.
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.
34 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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.
Naftan offered $56.0K; Isloch said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Three points for Naftan, 1‑0 the final word against Baranovichi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Ignat Pranovich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Something was said to Artem Drabatovich and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Yonghyun Park is in the works
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Andrey Lebedev
Aidas Dubickas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEL Larisa, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer went to Isloch 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.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Naftan had all but put away. Molodechno will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrei Shikavka after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Aidas Dubickas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 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.
Molodechno next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Matvey Susha, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Timur Galimzyanov 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mikhail Alexandrov did not need any: 8.27, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Tikhonov 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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Mikhail Alexandrov 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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Naftan have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrei Shikavka on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ivan Berezun 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 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.
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 Ilya Seleznev is on it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mikhail Alexandrov did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Kharitonovich 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.
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Naftan will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Lida; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mikhail Alexandrov did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Orsha made Naftan work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Kharitonovich 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 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. 9 actions, 7.62, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrei Shikavka on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Seleznev 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Andrei Shikavka could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ilya Seleznev
A mark of 8.20 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.
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 Alexey Kharitonovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignat Pranovich 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ilya Seleznev did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mikhail Alexandrov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Naftan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Ivan Berezun 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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.” Andrei Shikavka chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Naftan is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“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 am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Naftan was different afterwards.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Kharitonovich 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.
Molodechno left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Andrei Shikavka to a room that had heard them before.
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 Matvey Susha is on it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Naftan scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Matvey Susha, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The 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.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrei Shikavka on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Slonim were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by 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.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Naftan asked and Stumbras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignat Pranovich 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.
“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. 4 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bohemians 1905 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$68.0K was the most the club would pay and Isloch 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.
Naftan asked and Isloch 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mikhail Alexandrov has moved up it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Alexey Kharitonovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bohemians 1905 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.
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.
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.
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 Ilya Seleznev is on 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.
$68.0K on the table at Isloch. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Andrei Shikavka has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nazar Chizh is 20, and Naftan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Andrey Lebedev's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“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 deal with Torpedo-BelAZ is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Naftan asked and Lokomotiv 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Andrey Lebedev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alexey Kharitonovich may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Seleznev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at 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 is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Naftan than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“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.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 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.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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.
“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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Yakovlev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
63 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
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 Yamoussa Camara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ilya Seleznev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at 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 arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
“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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Zakhar Terpugov commits to Naftan for another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
“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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Artem Drabatovich has moved up it.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Alexandrovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 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.
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 Alexey Kharitonovich has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutEvgeniy Zemko asks for a word with the manager
“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.
“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.
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 was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at 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.
14 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov 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 Nikita Kostomarov 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 Alexey Kharitonovich has written the date down.
22 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Alexandrovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
“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.
“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 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 language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
“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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Ivan Vorobjev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 Evgeniy Zemko stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matvey Susha is on 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.
44 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.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Artem Kendysh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Evgeniy Zemko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Naftan could ask drops and the wages Alexandr Alexandrovich can ask rise.
51 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vadim Yakovlev has his answer from Naftan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 14 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Artemiy Litvinov scored, was marked 7.35, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Andrey Rum has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
66 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.
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.
Volna Pinsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dmitriy Nizhnik 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrei Shikavka after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Naftan has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Naftan close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kokand 1912, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Denis Khodyko has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Kirill Noyok has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yahor Dragun has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
80 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vadim Konyukhov has just signed for Naftan, and for once the answer mattered.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matvey Susha did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deal with Isloch 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 chase for Anton Semenov ended with $260.0K changing hands and Gomel out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Naftan spend $260.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $260.0K for Anton Semenov, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Naftan asked and AS Trencin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadVadim Konyukhov falls out with a teammate over standards
88 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.
Minsk go through and Naftan go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have shaken hands with Gomel; 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleg Petrovskiy has just signed for Naftan, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Banik Ostrava keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vadim Yakovlev 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.
95 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.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
A 0‑3 win over Vitebsk, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The terraces24 Aug 2026
A cup hiding at Vitebsk leaves Naftan explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Naftan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
102 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.
1 for Yamoussa Camara, marked 7.66, 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.51, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
110 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.
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.
Lida did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $46.0K for Artem Salygo, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Vadzim Noyok has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Palitsevich has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
118 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.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Zakhar Terpugov has, at Naftan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Artem Salygo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.