“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Tolkin and Slutsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Slutsk, and 3 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
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.
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
0‑3 to Slavia Mozyr, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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 phone has started ringing about Daniil Lesko again, and this time the name on the line is Molodechno. Slutsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Slutsk and Smorgon in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
8.73. 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.
8.60. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Kleyder Barreto was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Slutsk, and 2 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Gomel? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Position 13, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The terraces22 May 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 May 2028
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Squad15 May 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
Sergey Matveychik 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
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.
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.
Squad1 May 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
Squad1 May 2028
6 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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.
Marked 8.69 — 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Slutsk and Dinamo Brest in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
8.49. 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.
“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.
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.
Orsha go through and Slutsk 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.
1 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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Ilya Maksimkov could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.22
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.22, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Ivan Mikhnyuk 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 18 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.
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.
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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
Isloch held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Slutsk answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
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.
1‑4 to Dinamo Minsk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
7 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vladislav Sychev. 2‑1 against Dnepr Mogilev, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Slutsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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 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.
Marked 8.68 — 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ihar Noyok 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Maksim Gordeichuk 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ihar Ihnatovich is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrei Nekhaichik is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Mikhnyuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 name of Daniil Kirbay has come up in conversations Slutsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
8 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.
The fee is $30.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Vitebsk drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dino Kurbegović is living that version at Slutsk, and it tends to show in the first month.
The terraces7 Feb 2028
Slutsk spend $84.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $84.0K for Vadim Galko, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Artem Tolkin 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.
Sergey Matveychik 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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 phone has started ringing about Daniil Lesko again, and this time the name on the line is Baranovichi. Slutsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Sergey Matveychik 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 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.
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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 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.
Artem Tolkin 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.
Sergey Matveychik 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.
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. Slutsk will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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.
Daniil Prudnik 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.
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 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Artem Tolkin 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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 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.
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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Artem Tolkin 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.
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 Slutsk have had the benefit of it.
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.
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 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.
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tolkin 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.
Santiago Palacios 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 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Artem Tolkin 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.
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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 Nov 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Yarotskiy 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.
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.
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.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Evgeniy Voyna and Slutsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Artem Tolkin 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.
5 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.
Sergey Matveychik is 39 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kirill Yakuta has just signed for Slutsk, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Slutsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Sychev 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.
Maksym Shevchenko 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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
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 8.43 — 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Alexey Zhechko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.15
A mark of 9.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
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.
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 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Sychev 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.
Marat Vasilkevich 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marat Vasilkevich 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.
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.
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.
8.55. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The 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.
Ruslan Radyukevich 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.
Squad23 Aug 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.
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Sychev 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitriy Nekrashevich. 1‑0 against Vitebsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
19 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.
The offer from Melbourne City for Vladislav Fedosov 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.
Santiago Palacios 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.
16 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.
14 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.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Nekrashevich 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.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 terraces26 Jul 2027
Slutsk spend $34.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $34.0K for Santiago Palacios, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
9.10. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladislav Sychev provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
The fee is $94.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lokomotiv Gomel drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ivan Kislyak from Lokomotiv Gomel for $94.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Vladislav Sychev will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Slutsk escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
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 8.58 — 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diamantis Chouchoumis and Slutsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Vladislav Ignatjev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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.
“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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Add another name to the list: Bumprom Gomel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Daniil Lesko. The answer from Slutsk has not changed — yet.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
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.
Marked 8.91 — 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.
Daniil Prudnik 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.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Daniil Prudnik was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.55. 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Fedosov 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Prudnik 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.
Marat Vasilkevich 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Minsk the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Slutsk will enjoy reviewing.
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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Slutsk and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
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.
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Fedosov 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.
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 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.
19 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.
16 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.
In brief
SquadArtem Malashko falls out with a teammate over standards
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexey Zhechko did not need any: 9.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexey Zhechko. 1‑0 against Smorgon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Marat Vasilkevich 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: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Daniil Lesko 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.
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.
A 5‑2 win over Lokomotiv Gomel, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Alexey Zhechko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Vladislav Sychev decided nobody was going anywhere. Isloch had no time left to answer.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Slutsk and Lokomotiv Gomel in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Daniil Lesko 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.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Dinamo Minsk? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 12 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A performance of 8.91 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Lesko 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.
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.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Kleyder Barreto was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.81. 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.
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Yarotskiy 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artem Hryshyn is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Egor Balanovich 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. Vitaliy Hryshyn is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yan Kavalyou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Lesko 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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Slutsk has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Evgeniy Sanyukovich and Slutsk agree another 3 years.
Daniil Lesko 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.
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.
Daniil Prudnik 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrey Kren trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marat Vasilkevich 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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. Vadim Tseluyko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Sychev and Slutsk agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignatiy Sidor 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 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.
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.
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. 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.
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. Vadim Kurlovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
Squad9 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.
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.
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.
Squad2 Nov 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.
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. Vadim Kurlovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Naftan will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nikita Piven 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.
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.
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. Artur Chuduk 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. Pavel Tseslyukevich has agreed terms with Gomel for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Sychev has agreed terms with Gomel for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Tolkin 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. Vladislav Kulchitskiy has agreed terms with Gomel 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vladislav Fedosov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Slutsk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Slavia Mozyr kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Slutsk will be asked about the last half hour all week.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Chuduk 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. Andrey Rum has agreed terms with Gomel for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Bogdan Kutsyi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.71. 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.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Vladislav Chebotar reports back to Slutsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Andrey Kren 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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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 2‑1 win over Molodechno, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Yarotskiy 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Tolkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slutsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artem Tolkin 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.
2‑3 to Gomel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Slutsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Sychev 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.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vadim Kurlovich 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.
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.
Marked 9.03 — 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.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Slutsk and Dinamo Brest, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.84 — 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.
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 phone has started ringing about Vladislav Fedosov again, and this time the name on the line is Neman. Slutsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
25 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.
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.
Diamantis Chouchoumis 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Bogdan Kutsyi 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Makar Suschiy again, and this time the name on the line is Minsk. Slutsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Vladislav Sychev.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Slutsk has been clear about where Vadim Tseluyko stands, which is more than many ever get.