The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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 Smorgon have had the benefit 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smorgon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smorgon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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. Dmitry Kudryk has just signed for Smorgon, and for once the answer mattered.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smorgon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Egor Babich 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kean Scicluna is living that version at Smorgon, and it tends to show in the first month.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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. Smorgon will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaliy Pavlov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smorgon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Smorgon training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 105 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Egor Babich 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 words a physio says slowly. 112 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Kats will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smorgon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 119 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Egor Babich 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 words a physio says slowly. 126 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Egor Babich 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Kats will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smorgon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smorgon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Egor Babich 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Egor Babich 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Filip Mak has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Smorgon have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad18 Sep 2028
5 new faces, and Smorgon 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Kats will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smorgon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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: Egor Babich. 2‑1 against BATE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Artur Tishko is still in the building
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.
It needed Alexandr Svirepa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Slavia Mozyr, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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.
Egor Babich 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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.
Marked 8.41 — 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 name of Vitaliy Pavlov has come up in conversations Smorgon were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Molodechno for Vladislav Myzgin 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.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Khalimonchikov 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Egor Babich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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.
8.69. 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.
It needed Alexandr Svirepa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Bumprom Gomel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Kats will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smorgon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Egor Babich 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Artem Denisenko knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.
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 Torpedo-BelAZ? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smorgon can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmitriy Khalimonchikov and Smorgon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Egor Babich 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.
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Artur Arustamyan is living that version at Smorgon, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9.02. 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Kats will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smorgon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artur Kats 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.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 Smorgon 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladislav Dybin provided it, and the 9.03 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 Smorgon can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Smorgon and Slutsk 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.
Marked 9.05 — 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 mood at Smorgon has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Yelagin 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Egor Babich 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 Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 Smorgon 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.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Smorgon scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Egor Babich 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 easiest signature of my career.” Max Zhestarev and Smorgon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.
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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Yelagin 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.
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.
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 Smorgon 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.
Bumprom Gomel go through and Smorgon 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.
Egor Babich 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 easiest signature of my career.” Artem Stankevich and Smorgon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9.33. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Danila Slesarchuk. 2‑0 against Dinamo Brest, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
11 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smorgon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Egor Babich 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 words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk moved on, Vladislav Myzgin reports back to Smorgon, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smorgon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Artem Denisenko's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smorgon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smorgon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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.
$84.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
He is going to Slutsk, the club has $84.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadKirill Yelagin falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Yelagin 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kovalevich 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.
Egor Babich 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 Smorgon 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.
In brief
SquadArtur Tishko asks for a word with the manager
BoardroomThe Smorgon production line keeps running
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Smorgon have had the benefit of it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Vitaliy Para is living that version at Smorgon, and it tends to show in the first month.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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. 20 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 Smorgon 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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 Smorgon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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. Smorgon will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Smorgon training over how hard people work
MarketVadim Galko returns from a loan that gave him nothing
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Smorgon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Egor Babich 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.
Artur Tishko 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.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 Smorgon 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.
Danila Slesarchuk 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 Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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 Smorgon, and 4 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon 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 Smorgon 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Smorgon training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Egor Babich 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Smorgon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadArtem Glotsko has become a man the manager trusts
Egor Babich 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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.
Position 3, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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.
8.57. 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smorgon can pretend not to have heard.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Danila Slesarchuk 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 Sep 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Shimakovich 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals and a season average of 7.49 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Egor Babich 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: Egor Babich. 1‑0 against Dinamo Brest, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Egor Babich 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
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Egor Babich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.17. 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.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Smorgon are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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.
Alikhan Fazylov 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. Ivan Shimakovich 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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.
Marked 8.75 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Vladislav Dybin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Smorgon has been clear about where Artur Kats stands, which is more than many ever get.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 8.35 — 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.
Shots: 6. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Egor Babich 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.
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.
“I watch every Smorgon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Brest runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitriy Khalimonchikov provided it, and the 10.00 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 Smorgon can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Egor Babich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Vladislav Dybin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.14. 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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.
Alikhan Fazylov 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Matvey Dukso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.50. 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 at Smorgon 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.
Shots: 10. 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.
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 Smorgon 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.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Egor Babich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.03. 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smorgon can pretend not to have heard.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
9.44. 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. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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 9.13 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitriy Khalimonchikov. 2‑1 against Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Smorgon, and 3 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Egor Babich 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Smorgon told Ilya Baranov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Egor Babich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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.
“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 Smorgon, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smorgon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Danila Slesarchuk 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alexandr Svirepa scored in the 85th minute, Naftan had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Smorgon took the lot.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon 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.
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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
“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 Smorgon, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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.
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.
Artem Devyaten 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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Smorgon, another week without a signature from Vladislav Dybin.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Egor Babich 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smorgon can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Smorgon 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Danila Slesarchuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 watch every Smorgon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Brest runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 8.79 — 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.
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.
31 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Egor Babich 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alexandr Svirepa scored, was marked 7.37, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Egor Babich 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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: Danila Slesarchuk. 2‑1 against Baranovichi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Shots: 5. 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 is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Molodechno kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Smorgon will be asked about the last half hour all week.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 8.78 — 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Babich 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 8.97 — 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.
Alikhan Fazylov 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 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Vasilyuchek and Smorgon agree another 2 years.
Vladislav Vasilyuchek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
8 academy players handed senior numbers at Smorgon
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.
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. Yahor 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valery Chalavach has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uladzislau 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. Egor Arlouski 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa 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 Smorgon, another week without a signature from Nikolay Leshkevich.
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.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Smorgon now know that too.
Vladislav Vasilyuchek 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 terraces22 Feb 2027
Smorgon spend $160.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $160.0K for Rodion Medvedev, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Egor Babich 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The terracesSmorgon spend $980.0K on the signing the town wanted
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smorgon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Vladislav Vasilyuchek 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 terraces8 Feb 2027
Smorgon spend $110.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $110.0K for Kirill Semashko, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Egor Babich 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.