From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2032
Artem Chizhov 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 Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Match14 Aug 2032
4 matches without a win for Osipovichi
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Osipovichi are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Osipovichi now.
Match14 Aug 2032
3 matches without a goal for Osipovichi
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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match14 Aug 2032
0‑2 to Dinamo Brest, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artur Nechaev, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2032
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Denis Ssorin 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Rudenok 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 ratings9 Aug 2032
Marked 7.50 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Osipovichi had the best player on the pitch.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Nobody at Osipovichi 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
Crisis
Match2 Aug 2032
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Osipovichi
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Osipovichi is running low.
Market2 Aug 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Ivan Stosh: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osipovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2032
Artur Nechaev 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 Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
“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 ratings26 Jul 2032
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Nikita Gabovs 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.
Match24 Jul 2032
1‑1, 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
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2032
“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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Osipovichi now.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Denis Rudenok falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match17 Jul 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Zverev. 1‑0 against Dnepr Mogilev, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Jul 2032
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Ivan Stosh
“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
Market12 Jul 2032
Artem Chizhov 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 Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Nobody at Osipovichi 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
Match3 Jul 2032
19 matches without a win for Osipovichi
The run now stands at 19, and the questions being asked around Osipovichi are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Jul 2032
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Jul 2032
“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 Jul 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Osipovichi
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Denis Rudenok 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 ratings5 Jul 2032
A mark of 7.51, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Osipovichi sign 4 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad5 Jul 2032
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
Match26 Jun 2032
18 matches without a win for Osipovichi
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Osipovichi are no longer polite ones.
Market28 Jun 2032
Artur Nechaev 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 Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Jun 2032
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. 7.72 beside his name.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Artur Nechaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
The manager makes an example of Denis Rudenok
“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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2032
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match26 Jun 2032
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad28 Jun 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osipovichi told Mikalai Nekhaichik something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Jun 2032
The wait goes on for Osipovichi
17 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.
Boardroom21 Jun 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Osipovichi now.
Squad21 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Shelom Magri 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 ratings21 Jun 2032
A mark of 7.45, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad21 Jun 2032
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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Artem Gurenko 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 Artem Gurenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings21 Jun 2032
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Jun 2032
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Molodechno came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jun 2032
The wait goes on for Osipovichi
16 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.
Market14 Jun 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Denis Ssorin 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Rudenok is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Jun 2032
“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.
Match12 Jun 2032
Gomel left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2032
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Jun 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jun 2032
15 matches without a win for Osipovichi
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Osipovichi are no longer polite ones.
Match7 Jun 2032
Every point is an argument now for Osipovichi
Position 15 and 7 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.
Market7 Jun 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Denis Rudenok 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 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Malafeev, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Makar Nikolayev 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.
Squad7 Jun 2032
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mikalai Nekhaichik is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match5 Jun 2032
It needed Kirill Yablonski to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Isloch, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings7 Jun 2032
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Osipovichi were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2032
No end in sight to Osipovichi's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osipovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Market31 May 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2032
“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.
Match29 May 2032
The goals have deserted Osipovichi
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Osipovichi can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 May 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad31 May 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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
Crisis
Match22 May 2032
No end in sight to Osipovichi's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osipovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom24 May 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Osipovichi now.
Market24 May 2032
“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.
Match22 May 2032
3 matches without a goal for Osipovichi
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.
Squad24 May 2032
Denis Rudenok falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match22 May 2032
0‑1 to Uni-X Labs, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 May 2032
Danila Grachev 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.
Squad24 May 2032
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.
Squad24 May 2032
“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
Match15 May 2032
12 matches without a win for Osipovichi
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Osipovichi are no longer polite ones.
Market17 May 2032
“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.
Squad17 May 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad17 May 2032
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Grin
“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.
Player ratings17 May 2032
A mark of 7.53, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad17 May 2032
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Match15 May 2032
Point won or two lost for Osipovichi?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Neman? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad17 May 2032
At 18 years old, Artem Nekhaichik became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Player ratings17 May 2032
A defender's afternoon for Denis Rudenok
Defensive actions: 12. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2032
The wait goes on for Osipovichi
11 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.
Match10 May 2032
Every point is an argument now for Osipovichi
Position 14 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market10 May 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2032
Artur Nechaev 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 ratings10 May 2032
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.
Player ratings10 May 2032
Marked 7.39. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad10 May 2032
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.
Match8 May 2032
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Smorgon defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 May 2032
No end in sight to Osipovichi's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osipovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 May 2032
“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.
Squad3 May 2032
Denis Ssorin 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Rudenok 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 May 2032
“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
Match24 Apr 2032
No end in sight to Osipovichi's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osipovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Osipovichi now.
Market26 Apr 2032
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2032
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Shelom Magri 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Apr 2032
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Naftan will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2032
8 matches without a win for Osipovichi
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Osipovichi are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Apr 2032
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.
Market19 Apr 2032
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Denis Rudenok 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 Apr 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
“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.
Match17 Apr 2032
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Osipovichi had a different afternoon.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2032
The wait goes on for Osipovichi
7 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 ratings12 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match10 Apr 2032
Minsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artur Nechaev, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Mar 2032
Vitebsk ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad5 Apr 2032
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Maxim Malafeev: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match3 Apr 2032
No end in sight to Osipovichi's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osipovichi has to find a result from somewhere.
Market5 Apr 2032
“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 ratings5 Apr 2032
7.66, 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
An order from above at Osipovichi: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Denis Rudenok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Dmitriy P. Denisenko 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.
Squad5 Apr 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Mar 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Osipovichi now.
Squad29 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy P. Denisenko 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 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Makar Nikolayev, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2032
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
Crisis
Market22 Mar 2032
“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.
Match20 Mar 2032
The wait goes on for Osipovichi
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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Steven N'Guessan, and the manager let it.
Match20 Mar 2032
A bad afternoon for Osipovichi against BATE
0‑1 to BATE, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Osipovichi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Mar 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Alexandr Grin 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2032
The Osipovichi debt reaches $4.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
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
Upbeat
Market8 Mar 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad8 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Osipovichi
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Artur Nechaev 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.
Market8 Mar 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stanislau Chalavach has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikalai Shikavka has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market8 Mar 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Artem Volodko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad8 Mar 2032
The manager makes an example of Artem Gurenko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Mar 2032
“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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
The numbers do not look good at Osipovichi
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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy P. Denisenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Feb 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osipovichi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market23 Feb 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Feb 2032
German Parfenov 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
When it matters, Artem Glyak 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.
Market23 Feb 2032
Osipovichi have made German Parfenov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad23 Feb 2032
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Osipovichi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Feb 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Denis Rudenok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Boardroom16 Feb 2032
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.4M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Denis Ssorin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and German Parfenov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Feb 2032
The bid was some way short and Osipovichi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market9 Feb 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denis Rudenok and Osipovichi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Feb 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Feb 2032
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Osipovichi will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Artur Nechaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Feb 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Feb 2032
Artem Glyak has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osipovichi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market2 Feb 2032
The phone has started ringing about German Parfenov again, and this time the name on the line is Gomel. Osipovichi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Rudenok and Osipovichi agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
$77.9K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Market2 Feb 2032
Slavia Mozyr are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Osipovichi will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osipovichi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jan 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Artur Nechaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jan 2032
“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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Denis Rudenok 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 Jan 2032
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Boardroom19 Jan 2032
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Denis Ssorin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Osipovichi could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jan 2032
“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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad12 Jan 2032
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.
Market12 Jan 2032
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Osipovichi has been clear about where Eduard Martirosyan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market12 Jan 2032
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Osipovichi could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jan 2032
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jan 2032
Only the photograph left for Artem Glyak
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Glyak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osipovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Jan 2032
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Osipovichi have had the benefit of it.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
An order from above at Osipovichi: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
$85.7K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Danila Grachev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market5 Jan 2032
Danila Grachev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Osipovichi has been clear about where Danila Grachev stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Eduard Martirosyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Dec 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Artur Nechaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Dec 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Denis Ssorin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Market22 Dec 2031
The clock does German Parfenov’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Osipovichi could ask drops and the wages German Parfenov can ask rise.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Danila Grachev 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 Osipovichi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Dec 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Artur Nechaev 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.
Boardroom15 Dec 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad15 Dec 2031
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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osipovichi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Dec 2031
Only the photograph left for Artem Glyak
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Glyak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osipovichi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market8 Dec 2031
“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 Dec 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artem Glyak 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Denis Rudenok 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 Dec 2031
$89.6K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
A season on the outside for Patryk Konik
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Osipovichi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market8 Dec 2031
Still no signature from Artem Glyak
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Osipovichi could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Leander Chadli is the young player of the season
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Market1 Dec 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Dec 2031
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Osipovichi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad1 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Dec 2031
When it matters, Artem Glyak 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Nov 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.6M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Denis Ssorin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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 Nov 2031
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Osipovichi money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Nov 2031
“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.
Match17 Nov 2031
Osipovichi refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Boardroom17 Nov 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Grachev 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Nov 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Denis Rudenok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
German Parfenov 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.
Market10 Nov 2031
Artem Glyak runs his contract down
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Osipovichi money.
Market10 Nov 2031
Osipovichi have let the market know Pavel Volodko can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Nov 2031
Artem Sivakov breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 Nov 2031
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 Nov 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Oct 2031
Artem Sivakov breaks a bone — 24 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Oct 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.6M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Denis Ssorin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Yauhen Kavalyou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Oct 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Oct 2031
Osipovichi refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Artem Sivakov breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad20 Oct 2031
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
Upbeat
Squad13 Oct 2031
Artem Sivakov breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Oct 2031
Pavel Volodko 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 Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Oct 2031
“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.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad6 Oct 2031
45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad6 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The owner puts $114.5K into Osipovichi
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
Wages eat 108% of everything Osipovichi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Sep 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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 Sep 2031
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Uladzislau Dragun, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Eduard Martirosyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Sep 2031
46 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market22 Sep 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Artur Nechaev 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.
Boardroom22 Sep 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad22 Sep 2031
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
Upbeat
Market15 Sep 2031
Pavel Volodko 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 Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Danila Grachev 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
A season on the outside for Patryk Konik
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Osipovichi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Sep 2031
The clock does Artem Glyak’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Osipovichi could ask drops and the wages Artem Glyak can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Sep 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
The owner puts $112.9K into Osipovichi
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Artur Nechaev 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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Leander Chadli is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Osipovichi will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Wages eat 116% of everything Osipovichi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Sep 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market1 Sep 2031
“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 Sep 2031
Ivan Stosh: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osipovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
44 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Aug 2031
46 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match23 Aug 2031
Still nobody has beaten Osipovichi
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad25 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Aug 2031
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Shelom Magri
“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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A Osipovichi teenager takes the young player award
Uladzimir Volodko is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Match23 Aug 2031
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Aug 2031
Nobody wants to play Osipovichi right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match16 Aug 2031
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Uladzimir Volodko decided nobody was going anywhere. Uni-X Labs had no time left to answer.
Market18 Aug 2031
“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 Aug 2031
Denis Rudenok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Match16 Aug 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uladzimir Volodko. 1‑0 against Uni-X Labs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Ivan Stosh
“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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Aug 2031
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market11 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Artur Nechaev 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 terraces11 Aug 2031
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match9 Aug 2031
Osipovichi keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match9 Aug 2031
Lida made Osipovichi work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
105% of the income goes out in wages at Osipovichi
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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
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
Triumph
Match2 Aug 2031
Nobody wants to play Osipovichi right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
$123.4K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match2 Aug 2031
Volna Pinsk made Osipovichi work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad4 Aug 2031
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Osipovichi who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad4 Aug 2031
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Osipovichi have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
The afternoon belonged to Denis Ssorin
7.53, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Osipovichi had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Jul 2031
36 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market28 Jul 2031
“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.
Match26 Jul 2031
Nobody wants to play Osipovichi right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Artur Nechaev 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.
Match26 Jul 2031
Slavia Mozyr made Osipovichi work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Osipovichi had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Jul 2031
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
Upbeat
Market21 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Jul 2031
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match19 Jul 2031
It finished 3‑2, and it was German Parfenov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osipovichi.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Jul 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Jul 2031
A 1‑0 win over Bumprom Gomel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
Wages eat 108% of everything Osipovichi 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
The manager makes an example of Leander Chadli
“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.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Osipovichi had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad14 Jul 2031
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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Artur Nechaev has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
12 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Jul 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑3 against Ostrovets, and it could have been more.
Squad7 Jul 2031
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings7 Jul 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Osipovichi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denis Rudenok and Osipovichi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Jul 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Osipovichi and Ostrovets, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osipovichi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Denis Rudenok 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 Jun 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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
Crisis
Market23 Jun 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Jun 2031
3 matches without a goal for Osipovichi
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.
Match21 Jun 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Jun 2031
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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jun 2031
“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.
Market23 Jun 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Malafeev signs something — a contract at Osipovichi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Jun 2031
The plan did not have a place for Pavel Volodko
Nobody at Osipovichi is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Jun 2031
“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 Jun 2031
Denis Rudenok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Nechaev 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.
Market16 Jun 2031
He is 19, and nobody at Osipovichi signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Player ratings16 Jun 2031
Marked 7.13 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Osipovichi had the best player on the pitch.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Stosh, and the manager let it.
Match14 Jun 2031
Point won or two lost for Osipovichi?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Belshina? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings16 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Jun 2031
“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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom9 Jun 2031
Osipovichi are $5.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Boardroom9 Jun 2031
117% of the income goes out in wages at Osipovichi
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
The afternoon belonged to Denis Ssorin
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad9 Jun 2031
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
Upbeat
Squad2 Jun 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
$123.2K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match31 May 2031
A 1‑0 win over Lokomotiv Gomel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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.
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
7.60, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Osipovichi had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 May 2031
The game went through Artur Nechaev — 6.50
Marked 6.50 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad26 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 May 2031
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 May 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match17 May 2031
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad19 May 2031
Nobody at Osipovichi 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
Upbeat
Market12 May 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 May 2031
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings12 May 2031
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Boardroom12 May 2031
Osipovichi are $5.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Boardroom12 May 2031
Wages eat 98% of everything Osipovichi 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.
Player ratings12 May 2031
7.81, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Osipovichi had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad12 May 2031
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
Crisis
Boardroom5 May 2031
$117.3K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match3 May 2031
0‑2 to Volna Pinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 May 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy P. Denisenko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 May 2031
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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.
Squad5 May 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Artur Nechaev
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Artur Nechaev has come out of that comparison in the side, and Osipovichi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad5 May 2031
Eduard Martirosyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.55, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match26 Apr 2031
Whatever happens, Osipovichi do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad28 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Apr 2031
It finished 3‑1, and it was Artur Nechaev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osipovichi.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Denis Ssorin 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Apr 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match19 Apr 2031
Still nobody has beaten Osipovichi
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match19 Apr 2031
The run at home goes on for Osipovichi
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
The afternoon belonged to Denis Ssorin
A mark of 7.49, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Nobody at Osipovichi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Apr 2031
Osipovichi are $5.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad14 Apr 2031
The manager makes an example of Ivan Stosh
“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.
Boardroom14 Apr 2031
89% of the income goes out in wages at Osipovichi
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.
Market14 Apr 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Shelom Magri has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Osipovichi.
Squad14 Apr 2031
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
Upbeat
Squad7 Apr 2031
Maxim Malafeev decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match5 Apr 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Ostrovets, and it could have been more.
Match2 Apr 2031
Molodechno go through and Osipovichi go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
An order from above at Osipovichi: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Denis Rudenok 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 ratings7 Apr 2031
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Apr 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Grin and Osipovichi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
$115.9K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Player ratings7 Apr 2031
Marked 8.57 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2031
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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Ivan Stosh 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
Upbeat
Squad24 Mar 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match22 Mar 2031
A 1‑0 win over Torpedo-BelAZ, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Osipovichi had the best player on the pitch.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Danila Grachev 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Mar 2031
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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Andrei Nekhaichik damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom17 Mar 2031
Osipovichi are $5.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Mar 2031
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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Mar 2031
Andrei Nekhaichik damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Match8 Mar 2031
0‑1 to Orsha, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom10 Mar 2031
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
“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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
56 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Mar 2031
Andrei Nekhaichik damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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 Mar 2031
Artur Nechaev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osipovichi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match1 Mar 2031
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Uladzimir Volodko scored in the 87th minute, Lokomotiv Gomel had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Osipovichi took the lot.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad3 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Osipovichi
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The owner puts $112.7K into Osipovichi
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The terraces3 Mar 2031
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Feb 2031
Andrei Nekhaichik damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market24 Feb 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Feb 2031
Andrei Nekhaichik damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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 Feb 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Denis Ssorin 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Osipovichi
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Denis Rudenok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Dmitriy P. Denisenko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
Wages eat 97% of everything Osipovichi 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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Maxim Malafeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Shelom Magri
“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.
Market10 Feb 2031
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Andrei Nekhaichik is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Market10 Feb 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Osipovichi, another week without a signature from Andrei Nekhaichik.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denis Ssorin and Osipovichi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
The owner puts $120.2K into Osipovichi
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Feb 2031
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.
Squad3 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadzim Stasevich, and the manager let it.
Market3 Feb 2031
“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
Squad27 Jan 2031
Dmitriy P. Denisenko 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Market27 Jan 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vadzim Stasevich has his answer from Osipovichi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad27 Jan 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eduard Martirosyan, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Jan 2031
A new face in his position, and Dmitriy P. Denisenko suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Osipovichi have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market27 Jan 2031
The clock does Daniil Glyz’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Osipovichi could ask drops and the wages Daniil Glyz can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Jan 2031
“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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy P. Denisenko 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
Uneasy
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Osipovichi
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Osipovichi is running low.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Osipovichi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad6 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The owner puts $124.5K into Osipovichi
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Jan 2031
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
Squad30 Dec 2030
Denis Ssorin 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Nobody at Osipovichi 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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Danila Grachev 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
Market23 Dec 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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Dec 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Osipovichi
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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.
Squad16 Dec 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Dec 2030
Daniil Glyz 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Grachev 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
Uneasy
Market2 Dec 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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Osipovichi have had the benefit of it.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
$123.3K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Market2 Dec 2030
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Nobody at Osipovichi 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
Market25 Nov 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.
Squad25 Nov 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom18 Nov 2030
Pressure builds in the Osipovichi boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Denis Ssorin 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom18 Nov 2030
No signings allowed at Osipovichi
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
Squad11 Nov 2030
Denis Ssorin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Nov 2030
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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Grachev 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
Uneasy
Market4 Nov 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patryk Konik and Osipovichi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Denis Rudenok 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.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
$129.1K of the owner's money at Osipovichi
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Nov 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osipovichi told Artur Nechaev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Nobody at Osipovichi 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
Boardroom28 Oct 2030
Osipovichi are $5.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Leander Chadli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Osipovichi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Grachev 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
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Osipovichi
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market21 Oct 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 Osipovichi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad21 Oct 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Daniil Glyz 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.
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
87% of the income goes out in wages at Osipovichi
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
Uneasy
Market14 Oct 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Denis Rudenok 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 Oct 2030
Denis Ssorin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Osipovichi 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
Market7 Oct 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.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
The Osipovichi board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitriy P. Denisenko commits to Osipovichi for another 4 years.
Squad7 Oct 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
The owner puts $128.9K into Osipovichi
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Oct 2030
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
Squad30 Sep 2030
Denis Ssorin 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 Osipovichi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Sep 2030
The Osipovichi debt reaches $5.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Rashad Ramazanov 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
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Osipovichi
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Denis Ssorin 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 Sep 2030
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.