From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Mar 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Shiryaev
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match9 Mar 2030
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Alexandr Konev did the work nobody counts — 7.22
15 combined actions and 7.22. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
Orenburg left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
Neftekhimik still without a manager
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
The terraces4 Mar 2030
Anger at Neftekhimik spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
Neftekhimik have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Market4 Mar 2030
“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 Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Squad4 Mar 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match2 Mar 2030
No end in sight to Neftekhimik's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftekhimik has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Daniil Valkov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Daniil Valkov has, at Neftekhimik, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Orenburg is saying, and nobody at Neftekhimik is enjoying the guessing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Feb 2030
Every point is an argument now for Neftekhimik
Position 17 and 21 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.
Market25 Feb 2030
“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 ratings25 Feb 2030
The game went through Alexandr Konev — 6.65
Marked 6.65 on 19 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Neftekhimik until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
The deal with Krasnodar 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
4 matches without a win for Neftekhimik
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Neftekhimik are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Aziz Gaziev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Feb 2030
3 matches without a goal for Neftekhimik
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Feb 2030
Chastening afternoon for Neftekhimik
A 0‑3 beating by Shinnik was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market18 Feb 2030
“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 Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Feb 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Ezra Agyekum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomed Musalov 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.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
The borrowing at Neftekhimik reaches $20.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $20.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
Wages swallow 116% of the Neftekhimik 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 dugout18 Feb 2030
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Safronov
“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
Uneasy
Squad11 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Neftekhimik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Krylya Sovetov, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftekhimik know it.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Giorgi Kantaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Neftekhimik asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Ezra Agyekum 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.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
No signings allowed at Neftekhimik
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Feb 2030
Anger at Neftekhimik spills outside the ground
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.
Market4 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kyzyltash waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad4 Feb 2030
There were 7 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.
Market4 Feb 2030
“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 Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Giorgi Kantaria pops up at the right end — 7.62
7.62, 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.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CSKA Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Jan 2030
Neftekhimik are in real trouble now
Position 17, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market28 Jan 2030
“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 Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market28 Jan 2030
The phone has started ringing about Vilmos Jován again, and this time the name on the line is Kyzyltash. Neftekhimik are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2030
Neftekhimik asked and Spartak Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jan 2030
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
“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.
Match26 Jan 2030
Dinamo Kirov made Neftekhimik work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Jan 2030
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Giorgi Kantaria will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Neftekhimik escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Market21 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jan 2030
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 ratings21 Jan 2030
Up for the corner, and Giorgi Kantaria delivers — 7.89
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giorgi Kantaria scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
“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.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
A goal and an assist for Alexandr Konev — 7.81
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.81 beside his name.
Squad21 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezra Agyekum 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 dugout21 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Shiryaev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2030
There were 10 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.
Match9 Jan 2030
CSKA Moscow go through and Neftekhimik go home, 2‑6 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Jan 2030
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Chaika had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Neftekhimik did not stop to explain themselves.
The terraces14 Jan 2030
2-6. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
No sign of nerves from Rémi Charpentier at 20 — 8.09
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rémi Charpentier did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Maxim Shiryaev, 34, rolls back the years — 8.04
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces7 Jan 2030
Anger at Neftekhimik spills outside the ground
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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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 ratings7 Jan 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Jan 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Aziz Gaziev 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.
Match5 Jan 2030
6 matches without a win, and then this, against KAMAZ. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match5 Jan 2030
It finished 2‑1, and it was Giorgi Kantaria’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Neftekhimik.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Dec 2029
Every point is an argument now for Neftekhimik
Position 18 and 9 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.
Market31 Dec 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Dec 2029
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match29 Dec 2029
3 matches without a goal for Neftekhimik
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezra Agyekum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Dec 2029
0‑2 to Fakel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Dec 2029
35 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Looking ahead31 Dec 2029
Everything rides on KAMAZ
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Neftekhimik know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Dec 2029
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match22 Dec 2029
Chastening afternoon for Neftekhimik
A 0‑3 beating by Rubin was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market24 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Dec 2029
5 matches without a win for Neftekhimik
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Neftekhimik are no longer polite ones.
Market24 Dec 2029
Only the photograph left for Alex Inselvini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Inselvini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmitry Safronov and Neftekhimik agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
The borrowing at Neftekhimik reaches $19.3M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $19.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 112% of the Neftekhimik income
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Neftekhimik
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Dec 2029
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Market17 Dec 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match15 Dec 2029
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Match15 Dec 2029
Volga left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomed Musalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Neftekhimik are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Dec 2029
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Market10 Dec 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Up for the corner, and Giorgi Kantaria delivers — 7.60
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giorgi Kantaria scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market10 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Still nobody in the Neftekhimik dugout
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftekhimik know it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezra Agyekum 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.
Match8 Dec 2029
1‑2 to SKA Khabarovsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Bogdan Shishov clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Dec 2029
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
An empty coaching office at Neftekhimik
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Market3 Dec 2029
Ezra Agyekum hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Dec 2029
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islam Mashukov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Nov 2029
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
Match21 Nov 2029
A 1‑0 win over Rubin, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market26 Nov 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market26 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Nov 2029
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.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
Wages eat 128% of everything Neftekhimik earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Magomed Musalov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Nov 2029
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Market19 Nov 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Neftekhimik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Aziz Gaziev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Zakhar Badyuk gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Zakhar Badyuk has just signed for Neftekhimik, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Ezra Agyekum 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
“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.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Ezra Agyekum 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Nov 2029
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 Nov 2029
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.
Market12 Nov 2029
Vilmos Jován has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match10 Nov 2029
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yaroslav Arbuzov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Nov 2029
0‑2 to Yenisey, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Giorgi Kantaria
“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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Alex Inselvini 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.
Market12 Nov 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
In brief
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Squad
7 new faces, and Neftekhimik are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Alexandr Konev gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2029
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
1‑4 against Orenburg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bogdan Shishov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match5 Nov 2029
Every point is an argument now for Neftekhimik
Position 17 and 8 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.
Market5 Nov 2029
Ezra Agyekum hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Neftekhimik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Nov 2029
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.
Match3 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Neftekhimik's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftekhimik has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Oct 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Neftekhimik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market29 Oct 2029
Alex Inselvini has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Ezra Agyekum 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
Ural left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Wages swallow 127% of the Neftekhimik 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 93 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad22 Oct 2029
21 days out for Magomed Musalov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match20 Oct 2029
Beaten 0‑4 by Arsenal Tula, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Arkady Gyulushanyan has, at Neftekhimik, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Ezra Agyekum 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Shiryaev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
Nobody left the Neftekhimik 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Bogdan Shishov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market22 Oct 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oleksandr Popovych has his answer from Neftekhimik; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Oct 2029
The knee: Antonio Navas out for 100 days
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Magomed Musalov out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Oct 2029
Only the photograph left for Vilmos Jován
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vilmos Jován will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Ivan Lainez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Lainez has just signed for Neftekhimik, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Something was said to Aziz Gaziev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market15 Oct 2029
A stepping stone, not a home, for Ararat Ghazaryan
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Neftekhimik were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market15 Oct 2029
Ivan Lainez is 19, and Neftekhimik 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Oct 2029
The knee: Antonio Navas out for 107 days
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Oct 2029
15 days out for Yaroslav Arbuzov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match3 Oct 2029
A 1‑0 win over Dinamo Kirov, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market8 Oct 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match8 Oct 2029
Every point is an argument now for Neftekhimik
Position 16 and 8 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.
Market8 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Kantaria and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Oct 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Yaroslav Arbuzov out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Oct 2029
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match29 Sep 2029
0‑3 against Dinamo Moscow 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match29 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Neftekhimik's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftekhimik has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Oct 2029
Alex Inselvini has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market1 Oct 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Neftekhimik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 Sep 2029
4 matches without a win for Neftekhimik
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Neftekhimik are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Alex Inselvini 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 dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bogdan Shishov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Neftekhimik dressing room was either.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Aziz Gaziev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match22 Sep 2029
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Spartak Kostroma defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market24 Sep 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Neftekhimik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Yaroslav Arbuzov out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market17 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match15 Sep 2029
0‑2 to Dinamo Kirov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezra Agyekum 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 dugout17 Sep 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bogdan Shishov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Yaroslav Arbuzov out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Yenisey waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Sep 2029
Adam Berg has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market10 Sep 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 14 in, 22 out at Neftekhimik
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 22 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Aziz Gaziev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
$10.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Stavropol 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Sep 2029
Alexandr Konev damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Magomed Musalov out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 Sep 2029
280 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market3 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market3 Sep 2029
Only the photograph left for Alex Inselvini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Inselvini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Saturn wanted more than $26.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match1 Sep 2029
A bad afternoon for Neftekhimik against Ufa
1‑2 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Aziz Gaziev
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 101% of the Neftekhimik income
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2029
Alexandr Konev damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
81 days out for Magomed Musalov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market27 Aug 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Neftekhimik have done the hard part with Baltika, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Market27 Aug 2029
Krylya Sovetov paid $180.0K and Neftekhimik took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Aziz Gaziev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Linar Sharifullin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2029
Alexandr Konev damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
89 days out for Magomed Musalov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Bogdan Shishov confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market20 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market20 Aug 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2029
Alexandr Konev damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Aug 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 Aug 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market13 Aug 2029
Only the photograph left for Vilmos Jován
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vilmos Jován will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Aziz Gaziev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Neftekhimik asked and Akhmat Grozny said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Linar Sharifullin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Aug 2029
1‑2 to Fakel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2029
Alexandr Konev damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A fracture rules Magomed Musalov out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match4 Aug 2029
Beaten 0‑5 by Rubin, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market6 Aug 2029
Dmitry Veber hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Aug 2029
Alex Inselvini has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alex Inselvini has agreed terms with Metallurg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market6 Aug 2029
The deal that would have taken Platon Platonov to Dinamo Bryansk has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Neftekhimik with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Konev
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rashid Magomedov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Giorgi Kantaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Jul 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market23 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
The deal with Rubin is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Aziz Gaziev 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Neftekhimik still without a manager
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad16 Jul 2029
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.
Market16 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Yenisey waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Bogdan Shishov recited it perfectly.
Market16 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Akron, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Dmitry Veber 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
7 academy graduates step up at Neftekhimik
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2029
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.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Neftekhimik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market9 Jul 2029
Dmitry Veber hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danila Sukhomlinov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market9 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Veber has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
No thanks: Ivan Lepskiy rejects the move
Neftekhimik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Magomed Musalov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Vologda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Nesterov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market2 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Magomed Musalov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Neftekhimik asked and Baltika 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
Uneasy
Squad25 Jun 2029
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.
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftekhimik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market25 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Veber 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Mikhail Gorelishvili 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 dugout25 Jun 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market18 Jun 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Everything agreed with Orenburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market18 Jun 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Neftekhimik have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Berg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
Market11 Jun 2029
Dmitry Veber hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Veber has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Market11 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for Ivan Migunov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Migunov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artem Kholyusev 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Veber 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 dugout11 Jun 2029
Artem Kotik 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 Artem Kotik is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jun 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market4 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Aziz Gaziev 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kotik 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftekhimik know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 May 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market28 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 May 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kotik 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 May 2029
Nobody arrives at Neftekhimik until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Neftekhimik this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout28 May 2029
Dmitry Veber 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.
Market28 May 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Kashintsev signs something — a contract at Neftekhimik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout28 May 2029
Ivan Migunov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Neftekhimik 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.
Market28 May 2029
The shop window has Aziz Gaziev in it
Neftekhimik have let the market know Aziz Gaziev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market21 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 May 2029
Ivan Belikov 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 dugout21 May 2029
Rashid Magomedov 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.
The dugout21 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market21 May 2029
The clock does Rashid Magomedov’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Neftekhimik could ask drops and the wages Rashid Magomedov can ask rise.
The dugout21 May 2029
Linar Sharifullin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Neftekhimik 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.
Market21 May 2029
The Artem Kotik story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Artem Kotik signs something — a contract at Neftekhimik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom14 May 2029
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market14 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout14 May 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Veber has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Market14 May 2029
Ivan Migunov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 May 2029
Giorgi Kantaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 May 2029
Ivan Belikov 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 dugout14 May 2029
When it matters, Artem Kotik plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market14 May 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout14 May 2029
Rashid Magomedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market7 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islam Mashukov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 May 2029
Magomed Musalov 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Alex Inselvini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market7 May 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Loan watch7 May 2029
“I did not go to Mashuk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Neftekhimik and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Apr 2029
Aziz Gaziev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Neftekhimik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
Neftekhimik can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market30 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Veber’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Platon Platonov is on it.
Market30 Apr 2029
Adam Berg runs his contract down
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Neftekhimik money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Apr 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Artem Kotik 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Golubev, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Aziz Gaziev 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 Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Apr 2029
The clock does Rashid Magomedov’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Neftekhimik could ask drops and the wages Rashid Magomedov can ask rise.
Market23 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timofey Kashintsev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Ivan Migunov 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 Ivan Migunov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Neftekhimik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market16 Apr 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Veber has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Ivan Belikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Kotik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Inselvini, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftekhimik know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rashid Magomedov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Konev and Neftekhimik agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Neftekhimik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market9 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Neftekhimik, another week without a signature from Rashid Magomedov.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
98% of the income goes out in wages at Neftekhimik
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.
Loan watch9 Apr 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Neftekhimik, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Something was said to Timofey Kashintsev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Nesterov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Rashid Magomedov makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Market2 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Konev and Neftekhimik agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kotik 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 dugout2 Apr 2029
“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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Mar 2029
Full time on the season at Neftekhimik
Position 14 on 33 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market26 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Adam Berg did the work nobody counts — 7.58
17 combined actions and 7.58. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Market26 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Artem Kotik 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 terraces26 Mar 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Adam Berg has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.82 on the card, and the Neftekhimik support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match19 Mar 2029
Every point is an argument now for Neftekhimik
Position 16 and 30 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.
Market19 Mar 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Veber has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Market19 Mar 2029
Ivan Migunov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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 ratings19 Mar 2029
Adam Berg runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Alex Inselvini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Neftekhimik had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market12 Mar 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pobeda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
A bad afternoon for Neftekhimik against Ufa
0‑1 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market12 Mar 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
100% of the income goes out in wages at Neftekhimik
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Mar 2029
There were 12 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Neftekhimik can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market5 Mar 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A move Rémi Charpentier would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rémi Charpentier is living that version at Neftekhimik, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The numbers do not look good at Neftekhimik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market26 Feb 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.19, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Window shuts: 2 in, 4 out at Neftekhimik
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market26 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Aziz Gaziev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ivan Belikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Neftekhimik asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match24 Feb 2029
KAMAZ made Neftekhimik work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match17 Feb 2029
Chastening afternoon for Neftekhimik
A 0‑3 beating by Ural was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market19 Feb 2029
Dmitry Veber hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Feb 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Dmitry Veber has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Market19 Feb 2029
Kosmos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Neftekhimik did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Ivan Belikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftekhimik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market12 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match10 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Magomed Musalov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Nesterov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Feb 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Legion had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market5 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Neftekhimik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Neftekhimik now.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Ivan Belikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nizhniy Novgorod have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neftekhimik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match27 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Neftekhimik's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftekhimik has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Belikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market29 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Neftekhimik have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
No place for Aziz Gaziev on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Neftekhimik pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Neftekhimik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
97% of the income goes out in wages at Neftekhimik
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
Spartak Kostroma left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomed Musalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vladislav Nesterov after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad22 Jan 2029
The formation has left Alex Inselvini behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Neftekhimik will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market15 Jan 2029
The offer from Brinje Grosuplje for Vilmos Jován 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Alex Inselvini arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alex Inselvini has, at Neftekhimik, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Belikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Jan 2029
0‑2 to Chelyabinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Vladislav Nesterov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Ivan Belikov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Marat Sitdikov back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Neftekhimik has worked with Marat Sitdikov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Ivan Belikov 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Neftekhimik now.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Dmitry Veber 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Kashintsev, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“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 dugout8 Jan 2029
Marat Sitdikov back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Neftekhimik has worked with Marat Sitdikov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jan 2029
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market1 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Ivan Belikov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rashid Magomedov. 1‑0 against Nizhniy Novgorod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
Wages swallow 127% of the Neftekhimik 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomed Musalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Dmitry Veber did the work nobody counts — 7.46
9 combined actions and 7.46. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Market1 Jan 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Marat Sitdikov back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Neftekhimik has worked with Marat Sitdikov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Neftekhimik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Artem Kotik takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Match23 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Rotor. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match23 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artem Kotik. 3‑2 against Rotor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
A performance of 9.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Ivan Belikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Vladislav Nesterov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market18 Dec 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match16 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win for Neftekhimik
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Neftekhimik are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Dec 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Veber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Both jobs done by Adam Berg — 7.11
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, 7.11, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleksandr Popovych, and the manager let it.
Match16 Dec 2028
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Dec 2028
5 matches without a win for Neftekhimik
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Neftekhimik are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Neftekhimik now.
Match9 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Shinnik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomed Musalov 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftekhimik know it.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Neftekhimik can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Dec 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Dec 2028
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Magomed Musalov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Ivan Belikov 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Neftekhimik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match2 Dec 2028
Volga left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Kashintsev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artem Kholyusev
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Nov 2028
Akhmat ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match25 Nov 2028
Chastening afternoon for Neftekhimik
A 0‑3 beating by SKA Khabarovsk was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Nov 2028
There were 7 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Ivan Belikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Aziz Gaziev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match27 Nov 2028
Halfway: Neftekhimik sit in position 14
15 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
In brief
-
The dugout
Adam Berg gets it from the manager
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Neftekhimik
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2028
19 days out for Islam Mashukov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artem Kholyusev
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artem Kotik commits to Neftekhimik for another 4 years.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Ivan Belikov 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rashid Magomedov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Nov 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Neftekhimik has been clear about where Linar Sharifullin stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Neftekhimik told Linar Sharifullin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
SKA Khabarovsk next, and one man in the Neftekhimik dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Nov 2028
A fracture rules Islam Mashukov out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 Nov 2028
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Aziz Gaziev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Neftekhimik now.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rashid Magomedov, and the manager let it.
Match11 Nov 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market13 Nov 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Neftekhimik told Ivan Belikov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Alexandr Konev runs at them all day
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The dugout
Dmitry Veber gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Nov 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Nov 2028
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Nesterov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Age has not caught Maxim Shiryaev yet — 8.16
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Up for the corner, and Giorgi Kantaria delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giorgi Kantaria scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Veber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match4 Nov 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giorgi Kantaria. 2‑0 against Ufa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Chastening afternoon for Neftekhimik
A 0‑3 beating by Rodina was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Neftekhimik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Giorgi Kantaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomed Musalov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Magomed Musalov
“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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Nobody left the Neftekhimik 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Oct 2028
There were 7 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Ivan Belikov goes up and wins it — 7.82
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 7.82 for the rest of it.
Squad23 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ivan Belikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Giorgi Kantaria was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Oct 2028
It needed Giorgi Kantaria to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against KAMAZ, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Oct 2028
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.
Market16 Oct 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Rashid Magomedov 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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Belikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Too much change too quickly at Neftekhimik
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.
Market16 Oct 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Neftekhimik signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market16 Oct 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Artem Kotik 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Oct 2028
There were 10 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.
Match4 Oct 2028
Vilmos Jován wins it after the whistle should have gone
101 minutes played. Vilmos Jován found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Dinamo St Petersburg went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islam Mashukov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Rashid Magomedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces9 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Artem Kholyusev 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
133% of the income goes out in wages at Neftekhimik
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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomed Musalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islam Mashukov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Aziz Gaziev 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Arsenal Tula left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market2 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Sep 2028
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Aziz Gaziev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomed Musalov 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vladislav Nesterov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Migunov
“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
Squad18 Sep 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market18 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Rashid Magomedov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The numbers do not look good at Neftekhimik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match16 Sep 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alexandr Konev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Neftekhimik.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Magomed Musalov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Ninety minutes of Alexandr Konev at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Neftekhimik.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Golubev
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Neftekhimik 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Ivan Belikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftekhimik know it.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Wages swallow 88% of the Neftekhimik 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2028
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market4 Sep 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Sep 2028
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Neftekhimik's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftekhimik has to find a result from somewhere.
Market4 Sep 2028
The deal that would have taken Odin Høiland to Rotor has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Neftekhimik with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match2 Sep 2028
Neftekhimik make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Giorgi Kantaria 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Aug 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Akhmat Grozny 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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Neftekhimik have gone to Dinamo Makhachkala with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Rashid Magomedov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
The offer went to Arsenal Tula 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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kotik, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Everybody at Neftekhimik saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Aug 2028
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Stepan Melnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akhmat Grozny have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleksandr Popovych has just signed for Neftekhimik, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
The numbers do not look good at Neftekhimik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match19 Aug 2028
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Golubev
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Aug 2028
The unthinkable, invoiced: Emircan Gürlük sold
Akhmat Grozny arrived with $2.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Aug 2028
Chastening afternoon for Neftekhimik
A 0‑3 beating by Nizhniy Novgorod was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $94.0K of what Neftekhimik paid for Emircan Gürlük is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The terraces14 Aug 2028
Emircan Gürlük has gone, the accounts have $2.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market14 Aug 2028
The offer from FC Lahti for Odin Høiland 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.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiv Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Aug 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
There were 7 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Aug 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Age has not caught Islam Mashukov yet — 8.02
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad7 Aug 2028
10 seasons and 272 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match5 Aug 2028
Rotor made Neftekhimik work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market31 Jul 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Neftekhimik will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match29 Jul 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Andrey Nikitin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Neftekhimik asked and Krylya Sovetov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Vladislav Nesterov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jul 2028
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Islam Mashukov, 33, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Stepan Melnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Ufa wanted more than $570.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Magomed Musalov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Jul 2028
100 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The numbers do not look good at Neftekhimik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Nikitin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Golubev
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market17 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
No thanks: Ilja Yeremeev rejects the move
Neftekhimik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiv Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market17 Jul 2028
So close: Odin Høiland’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Ufa moved on, Odin Høiland reports back to Neftekhimik, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
$580.0K was the most the club would pay and Baltika 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Neftekhimik
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Neftekhimik board
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.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Neftekhimik sell a favourite for $1.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Khetag Khosonov was one of the reasons people came, and $1.3M does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The deal with Lokomotiv Moscow 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Rashid Magomedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Shinnik wanted more than $500.00 and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Nesterov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market3 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ufa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market3 Jul 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Neftekhimik will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Neftekhimik offered $1.0K; SKA Khabarovsk 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khetag Khosonov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Marat Sitdikov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Golubev
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftekhimik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Stepan Melnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Daniil Antonenko arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Daniil Antonenko has, at Neftekhimik, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 72 days on the sidelines for Magomed Musalov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market26 Jun 2028
Zac Williams has left for Lokomotiv Moscow in a $780.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Rashid Magomedov 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The numbers do not look good at Neftekhimik
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Neftekhimik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Stepan Melnikov 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Andrey Nikitin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Radnicki Nis 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Neftekhimik have made Andrey Nikitin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Andrey Golubev 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 Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrey Golubev
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Anger at Neftekhimik spills outside the ground
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Giorgi Kantaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Wages eat 123% of everything Neftekhimik earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khetag Khosonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Dmitry Veber 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 Dmitry Veber is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jun 2028
Andrey Golubev damages knee ligaments — 141 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 141 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad5 Jun 2028
384 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Neftekhimik had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Andrey Nikitin 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Neftekhimik, another week without a signature from Rashid Magomedov.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Rashid Magomedov was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout29 May 2028
This is not rotation. Stepan Melnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Khetag Khosonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Neftekhimik now.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Nikitin 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.
Squad29 May 2028
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout29 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market29 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Neftekhimik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 May 2028
Ivan Migunov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Neftekhimik will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 May 2028
Andrey Nikitin 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 Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 May 2028
Ivan Migunov gets it from the manager
“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 dugout22 May 2028
Anass Achahbar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Neftekhimik 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 dugout22 May 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market22 May 2028
The name of Andrey Golubev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftekhimik say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 May 2028
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Neftekhimik money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom15 May 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
The terraces15 May 2028
Supporters organise against the Neftekhimik board
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.
Market15 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 139% of the Neftekhimik 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 dugout15 May 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 May 2028
Andrey Nikitin knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrey Nikitin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 May 2028
Dmitry Veber 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 Dmitry Veber is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 May 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Neftekhimik can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad8 May 2028
Rashid Magomedov 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Magomed Musalov commits to Neftekhimik for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Nikitin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 May 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager's exit leaves Andrey Golubev exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Andrey Golubev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 May 2028
Nobody at Neftekhimik will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout1 May 2028
This is not rotation. Stepan Melnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 May 2028
Rashid Magomedov 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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khetag Khosonov 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 dugout1 May 2028
The manager's exit leaves Andrey Golubev exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Andrey Golubev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Squad1 May 2028
Adamos Andreou slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Adamos Andreou is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout1 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Apr 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Andrey Nikitin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Khetag Khosonov 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
Khetag Khosonov 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Ivan Migunov gets it from the manager
“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 dugout24 Apr 2028
Artem Ismagilov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Anass Achahbar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Neftekhimik 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The name of Andrey Golubev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftekhimik say nothing, which says plenty.
Market24 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Matvey Filipovskiy may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
Anger at Neftekhimik spills outside the ground
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.
Market17 Apr 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Timofey Komissarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Nikitin 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Andrey Nikitin
“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.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
115% of the income goes out in wages at Neftekhimik
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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Dmitry Veber 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 Dmitry Veber is on it.
Market17 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Neftekhimik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.