Slutsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slavia Mozyr, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uladzimir Sivakov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.66 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Slutsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Slutsk had all but put away. Vitebsk will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Neman keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matvey Lastochkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 96. Torpedo-BelAZ had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Slutsk told Andrey Kren something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vladislav Fedosov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
At 20 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.
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Kashtelyan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Pavlov, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Uladzimir Sivakov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Slutsk dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutAndrey Kren knocks on the manager's door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slutsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
“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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Rum is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Uladzimir Sivakov could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Slutsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Vladislav Fedosov was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
SquadNikita Robak is the weekend's best young player
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guljigit Borubaev provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guljigit Borubaev. 3‑2 against Isloch, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Mozyr have kept their man, and Slutsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 9.07 — 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.
Position 13 and 14 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.
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.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Vladislav Fedosov had Slutsk level again within 4 minutes, and Dinamo Minsk never got to play with a lead at all.
100 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.
Guljigit Borubaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo-BelAZ have kept their man, and Slutsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Korzun 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Rum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Guljigit Borubaev was the best thing in any of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Belshina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guljigit Borubaev. 3‑1 against BATE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guljigit Borubaev provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Slavia Mozyr were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slutsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
9 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.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Uladzimir Sivakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikhail Sachkovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Kashtelyan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yan Martynovich 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.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danila Kashtelyan, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Rum is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Uladzimir Sivakov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guljigit Borubaev provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slutsk, another week without a signature from Nikolay Leshkevich.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Uladzimir Sivakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vladislav Grekovich is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikolay Leshkevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.96, and 2 involvements.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Slutsk and Vitebsk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Sychev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Slutsk know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Kashtelyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 Uladzimir Sivakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 new faces, and Slutsk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ignatiy Sidor has his answer from Slutsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Guljigit Borubaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Slutsk had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bogdan Kutsyi 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Uladzimir Sivakov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 49. 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.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Daniil Lesko obliged against Volna Pinsk. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Slutsk.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Slutsk had all but put away. Naftan will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Soroko, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Kashtelyan 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Marked 6.59 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uladzimir Sivakov after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
0‑3 against Dinamo Minsk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Chuduk 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.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Slutsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slutsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Slutsk will try again when the window opens; Dinamo Minsk may not be selling by then.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
8.07. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Kashtelyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Slutsk have gone to Dinamo Minsk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ensar Tafili is a Slutsk player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Chuduk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Smorgon were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leningradets have kept their man, and Slutsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Chuduk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Slutsk has been clear about where Artur Chuduk stands, which is more than many ever get.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
Slutsk offered $300.0K; Vitebsk said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Osipovichi have kept their man, and Slutsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Kashtelyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The shirt still fits. Artem Soroko is back at Slutsk, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
$99.0K on the table at Smorgon. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 offer went to Vitebsk this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
Slutsk spend $43.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $43.0K for Artem Soroko, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Slutsk asked and Isloch said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Kashtelyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Slutsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vladimir Skomarovskiy has, at Slutsk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Slavia Mozyr is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitebsk have kept their man, and Slutsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Chuduk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Slutsk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Slutsk enter the window
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Chuduk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slutsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Slutsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Guljigit Borubaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slutsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slutsk, another week without a signature from Nikolay Leshkevich.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Tolkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Pesnyak 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.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
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 Artur Chuduk has written the date down.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Makar Litskevich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Guljigit Borubaev 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Yahor Volodko 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Artur Chuduk 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.
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 Dmitriy Nekrashevich has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Glyak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Bylinkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Slutsk will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Chuduk 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slutsk, another week without a signature from Artem Glyak.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slutsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sachkovskiy 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slutsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Slutsk could ask drops and the wages Vladislav Sychev can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Slutsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Guljigit Borubaev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Chuduk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Slutsk will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slutsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Slutsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Artur Chuduk 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yan Stasevich 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artem Palitsevich is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikolay Leshkevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Slutsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Andrey Rum are not good
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slutsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nikita Bylinkin has agreed terms with Dinamo Brest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Sachkovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slutsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Sychev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
17 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Chuduk 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Artur Chuduk
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Kurlovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Makar Suschiy has agreed terms with Slavia Mozyr for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Slutsk could ask drops and the wages Ilya Branovets can ask rise.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Slutsk the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Daniil Prudnik on the training pitch
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Sachkovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Viktar Sivakov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Korzun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slutsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Maxim Modulev
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Maxim Modulev has come out of that comparison in the side, and Slutsk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slutsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Sychev has agreed terms with Dinamo Brest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Guljigit Borubaev 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.
17 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout28 Sep 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 0‑1 Uladzimir Sivakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ignatiy Sidor 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slutsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Pavel Tseslyukevich 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.
Guljigit Borubaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The bid was some way short and Slutsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Slutsk close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Slutsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Vitebsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Artem Tolkin has agreed terms with Dinamo Brest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slutsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ilya Branovets 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Niva will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Danila Kashtelyan has pre-agreed a move to Slutsk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Slutsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ignatiy Sidor has agreed terms with Dinamo Brest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Slutsk and Minsk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volna Pinsk have kept their man, and Slutsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sachkovskiy 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slutsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slutsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Slutsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Sachkovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dnepr Mogilev go through and Slutsk go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slutsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Kurlovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mlada Boleslav keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slutsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with Neman; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slutsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Slutsk asked and Slavia Mozyr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrei Gordeichuk has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Filipenko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kirill Martynovich 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Mikhail Sachkovskiy is a Slutsk player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Vladislav Fedosov 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.
Slutsk asked and Paide said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Sachkovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Slutsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.