From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shinnik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Shinnik's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shinnik has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Ivan Shmakov: 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.” Shinnik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Shinnik
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 183% of everything Shinnik 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Shinnik
Lucas Macedo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Artur Cherny gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Malyarov
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shinnik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Nov 2026
Shinnik out of the cup
Akhmat ended it 0‑6. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market23 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shinnik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
Shinnik are taken apart by Akhmat Grozny — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Shinnik
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Shinnik
Vitalijs Ikaunieks and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Shinnik and Akhmat, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Danila Yanov 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 Shinnik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Denis Mironov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Vojtěch Patka 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 Vojtěch Patka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Kirill Nikitin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shinnik 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oleg Lanin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shinnik needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Vadim Karpov has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Vadim Karpov has written the date down.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ilja Porokhov signs something — a contract at Shinnik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shinnik can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Shinnik
Position 16 and 13 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Shinnik against Rodina
0‑2 to Rodina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Oleg Lanin
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Shinnik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Bozhenov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Stanislav Yarygin to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Oleg Lanin
Nobody at Shinnik 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
Squad2 Nov 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad2 Nov 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Shinnik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Mironov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
183% of the income goes out in wages at Shinnik
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Shinnik come up short against Ural
Ural left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Bozhenov, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Shinnik
Ivan Shmakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Oleg Lanin 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 Oleg Lanin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shinnik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denis Mironov. 3‑2 against Torpedo Moscow, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Denis Mironov 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 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Shinnik
Lucas Macedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Mitrov, and the manager let it.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at Shinnik
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Artur Galoyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Albek Gongapshev
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Squad
12 new faces, and Shinnik are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Malyarov
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shinnik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shinnik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Shinnik know it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Kirill Bozhenov 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Stefan Denić
“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 Oct 2026
It needed Denis Mironov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against KAMAZ, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market19 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nikita Kotin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shinnik.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Malyarov
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shinnik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shinnik can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Lucas Macedo: 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.” Shinnik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Denis Mironov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Shinnik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Shinnik will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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
Squad5 Oct 2026
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shinnik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Sep 2026
Shinnik march on in the cup
Irtysh are out and Shinnik go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.13 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Shinnik
Vitalijs Ikaunieks and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 225% of the Shinnik income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Shinnik
Danila Yanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 3‑1 win over SKA Khabarovsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets28 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Envigado have kept their man, and Shinnik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Sep 2026
The drought breaks for Shinnik
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and SKA Khabarovsk were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Mironov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Artur Galoyan
7.81, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Shinnik had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Shinnik
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Kirill Nikitin
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The dugout
Oleg Lanin does not fit this one
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Shinnik
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Shinnik are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Shinnik asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Shinnik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Mironov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Chernomorets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Timofey Mitrov
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stanislav Yarygin after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting David Shavlokhov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 134 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 134 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shinnik can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Shinnik until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Shinnik
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Shinnik are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Shinnik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vyacheslav Dudko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ivan Shmakov 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 Shinnik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kirill Malyarov damages knee ligaments — 141 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 141 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Shinnik asked and Miedź Legnica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Shinnik
Lucas Macedo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
No place for Stefan Denić in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Shinnik are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan enquiry to Slavia Prague: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Envigado have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market7 Sep 2026
Shinnik have made Timofey Mitrov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shinnik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Stefan Denić gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stefan Denić has just signed for Shinnik, and for once the answer mattered.
Market31 Aug 2026
Shinnik say no — this time
The offer from Yantra for Cherif Koroma was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Shinnik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Stefan Denić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match29 Aug 2026
Chaika left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shinnik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Shinnik is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Shinnik asked and Ferencvaros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Denis Mironov 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 Aug 2026
Lucas Macedo 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 Shinnik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Timofey Mitrov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match22 Aug 2026
Shinnik and Rotor take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Denis Mironov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No place for Vojtěch Patka in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Shinnik are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Stanislav Yarygin left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
Vojtěch Patka gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vojtěch Patka has just signed for Shinnik, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Skonto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AEK is saying, and nobody at Shinnik is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denis Mironov commits to Shinnik for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Shinnik
Danila Yanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Denis Mironov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Shinnik.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Yaroslav Arbuzov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleg Lanin commits to Shinnik for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Shinnik
Danila Yanov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Daniil Martovoy again, and this time the name on the line is Chernomorets. Shinnik are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
Nobody at Shinnik has picked up the phone to Oleg Lanin
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to AEK: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Skonto have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Shinnik are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Sokol leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.