Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Druzhba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ufa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Yenisey did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $280.0K for Artur Gilyazetdinov, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Gauna 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.
Minute 87, against Spartak Kostroma, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dilan Ortíz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa 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.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ilja Agapov was one of the reasons people came, and $780.0K does not replace that by itself.
Yenisey have accepted the money. What Ufa do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Georgy Gongadze provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from CSKA Moscow for Ilja Agapov 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Evgeny Shlyakov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Danil Akhatov again, and this time the name on the line is Shinnik. Ufa are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Up for the corner, and Ilja Agapov delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilja Agapov scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Minute 90, against Rodina, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Something was said to Filip Mrzljak and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zalimkhan Yusupov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Savely Nazarov left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Rodina.
Nobody at Ufa 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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Ufa know it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Radomir Lukin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Geovane Maranhão 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ufa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marked 8.38 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zalimkhan Yusupov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Shinnik held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Ufa answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Savely Nazarov left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
SquadDanil Akhatov falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsAn own goal to forget for Bouke Boersma
The dugoutIlja Agapov knocks on the manager’s door
Giacomo Volpe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ilja Agapov 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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ivan Khomukha's mistake
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ilja Agapov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Timofey Shipunov 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Timur Mitin 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 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Savely Nazarov, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Akhatov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bouke Boersma is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Gongadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ufa had all but put away. Chaika will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Ural go through and Ufa go home, 2‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 31 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ufa and Ural, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Akhatov 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 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“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 Ufa know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Gongadze is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Danil Lipovoy at his very best
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Ufa know it.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgy Gongadze. 2‑0 against Neftekhimik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ufa. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zalimkhan Yusupov 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 8.27 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Gongadze 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 needed Dilan Ortíz to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Spartak Kostroma, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stepan Mamonov 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. Nikolay Gorshkov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Gongadze 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.
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ufa and Mashuk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Shamil Isaev 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Gongadze is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Agapov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Giacomo Volpe
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rodina? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Timofey Shipunov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ufa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
12 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 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
That is the business done at Ufa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Giacomo Volpe 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Denis Smolov 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. Aleksandr Zhukov 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.
Ufa ran out of time with Veles. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Davide Marfella has just signed for Ufa, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Giacomo Volpe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Gongadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ufa will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Gongadze 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Giacomo Volpe
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ilja Yezhov is living that version at Ufa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferencvaros have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Southampton is saying, and nobody at Ufa is enjoying the guessing.
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Timofey Shipunov 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.
8.12. 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Evgeny Avdeev 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. Foma Kobzev 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. Savely Ignatov 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.
Ivan Lomaev 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ufa, another week without a signature from Filip Mrzljak.
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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.