From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Nart, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
158% of the income goes out in wages at Nart
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The Amir Djumaev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amir Djumaev signs something — a contract at Nart or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Alexandr Olenev
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Nart would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Bogdan Matsola knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nart, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Nart and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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 Nart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Djumaev 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nart know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match18 Jan 2027
Continental football is in reach for Nart
35 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 Eldar Tkhakokhov has written the date down.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Nart would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nart, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad18 Jan 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Nart the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
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.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Nart's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nart has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Nart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Djumaev 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Jan 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Pavel Popov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Nart will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Oleg Korotkov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
20 days out for Khyzyr Appaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rustam Dolgorukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nart the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Korotkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Amir Djumaev named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Amir Djumaev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match2 Jan 2027
Nart and Pobeda take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Half-satisfied: Pavel Popov on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 27 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Nart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Djumaev 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 311% of the Nart income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Amir Djumaev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaroslav Dol, and the manager let it.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nart share the spoils with Angusht
A 1‑1 draw with Angusht leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pavel Popov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market28 Dec 2026
The Amir Djumaev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amir Djumaev signs something — a contract at Nart or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
35 days out for Khyzyr Appaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Georgy Karginov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nart have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Djumaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Denis Davydov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nart know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 42 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.54, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nart cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match12 Dec 2026
Three points for Nart, 2‑0 the final word against Astrakhan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Pavel Popov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Nart take on the side everybody is chasing
Dinamo Stavropol arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Dmitry Pereverzev has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Zaur Baisurkaev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Khyzyr Appaev out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nart they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Magomednabi Yagjaev. 3‑1 against Legion, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Amir Djumaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.45 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Djumaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
296% of the income goes out in wages at Nart
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Olenev. 1‑0 against Kuban Holding, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nart.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pavel Popov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Sevastopol left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Nart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Viktor Malakhov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Kuban Holding next, and one man in the Nart dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Akhmed Ismailov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
70 days out for Khyzyr Appaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Djumaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Nart had the best player on the pitch.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Rouben Nguyen
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavel Popov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Nart dressing room was either.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Khyzyr Appaev gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Khyzyr Appaev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nart they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Amir Djumaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
At 22 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Magomednabi Yagjaev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Nart.
Market9 Nov 2026
One of our own: Fedot Lyubimov joins the Nart first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fedot Lyubimov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yegor Frolov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Khyzyr Appaev out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
A hiding for Nart
Beaten 0‑3 by Rostov 2, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nart told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 296% of the Nart income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaroslav Dol, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Nart dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavel Popov after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 92 days out
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Djumaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Kurban Kurbanov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Nart.
Match24 Oct 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Dinamo Makhachkala 2 tried to reorganise, Nart did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Alexandr Olenev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Match26 Oct 2026
Nart at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 7, 20 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Nart
9 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Bogdan Matsola
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Denis Davydov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Khyzyr Appaev out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Djumaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
7.60, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Nart had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match17 Oct 2026
Honours even between Nart and Sochi 2
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Pavel Popov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Khyzyr Appaev out for 106 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market12 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rustam Dolgorukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nart the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
Rubin Yalta left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Pavel Popov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Nart counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nart now.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Khyzyr Appaev out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Amir Djumaev 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Nart, 2‑1 the final word against Pobeda in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
399% of the income goes out in wages at Nart
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.60 on the card, and the Nart support went home talking about one name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Akhmed Ismailov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Akhmed Ismailov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.” Pavel Popov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Khyzyr Appaev out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2026
3‑0, and Kurban Kurbanov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Nart tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Bogdan Matsola at 21 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bogdan Matsola did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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 7.91 for the rest of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Akhmed Ismailov delivers — 7.70
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Akhmed Ismailov scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
At 22 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Nart 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matvey Filipovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
128 days out for Khyzyr Appaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market21 Sep 2026
The Kosmos deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Azamat Tashev reports back to Nart with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Dinamo Stavropol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Bogdan Matsola
“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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexandr Olenev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Amir Djumaev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 38. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Khyzyr Appaev breaks a bone — 135 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Nart 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nart is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Amir Djumaev 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavel Popov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Nart counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nart now.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Nart take on the side everybody is chasing
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The dugout
Khyzyr Appaev has become a man the manager trusts
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Ratmir Mashezov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 57. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
143 days out for Khyzyr Appaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nart people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Nart, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Fakel, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Amir Djumaev 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Legion made Nart work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Kurban Kurbanov at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nart.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award goes to Khyzyr Appaev, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
150 days out for Khyzyr Appaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match29 Aug 2026
5‑1, and Khyzyr Appaev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Nart tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Khyzyr Appaev, 36, rolls back the years — 10.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Nart have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Nart, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Nart and Kuban Holding, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Nart asked and Fakel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Nart bow out of the cup
Kaluga go through and Nart go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Nart
Alexandr Olenev 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Nart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Djumaev 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Nart against Sevastopol
1‑2 to Sevastopol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Kurban Kurbanov pops up at the right end — 7.94
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Nart
Alexandr Olenev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Yenisey have kept their man, and Nart go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Nart
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Djumaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Davydov
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavel Popov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Druzhba, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 10.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Denis Davydov gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Denis Davydov has just signed for Nart, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Nart did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nart can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Nart is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Nart
Alexandr Olenev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rouben Nguyen commits to Nart for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Khyzyr Appaev yet — 7.85
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Olenev and Nart agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kauno Zalgiris have kept their man, and Nart go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Amir Djumaev 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Late, late show earns Nart a point
Minute 87, against Rostov 2, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.