A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vitebsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 The request is on a desk at Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
Gianluca Ferrara is 19, and Vitebsk have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad24 Sep 2029
6 new faces, and Vitebsk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
54 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 The request is on a desk at Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neman have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Vitebsk know which stage they are at.
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vitebsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marin Žgomba reports back to Vitebsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
$33.0K settles it between the clubs for Daniil Kirbay
Slutsk have accepted the money. What Vitebsk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vitebsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Vitebsk know which stage they are at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Up for the corner, and Marin Žgomba delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marin Žgomba scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Kuntsevich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vitebsk asked and Torpedo-BelAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Deryugin provided it, and the 7.98 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 Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Alexandr Deryugin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Vitebsk.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Marin Žgomba 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
50 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Niva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The phone has started ringing about Marin Žgomba again, and this time the name on the line is Baranovichi. Vitebsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Torpedo-BelAZ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Isloch have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 47 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Isloch waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk 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 Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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 is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Baranovichi have accepted the money. What Vitebsk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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; Vitebsk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A brace, and Fedor Lebedev takes the afternoon — 8.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fedor Lebedev provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Marin Žgomba, marked 7.89, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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. 56 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Marin Žgomba again, and this time the name on the line is Baranovichi. Vitebsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Vitebsk have gone to Baranovichi with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Vitebsk asked and Belshina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadMarin Žgomba falls out with a teammate over standards
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
40 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
A brace, and Marin Žgomba takes the afternoon — 8.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marin Žgomba provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitebsk have done the hard part with BATE, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
A brace, and Marin Žgomba takes the afternoon — 7.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marin Žgomba provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alexandr Deryugin scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Vitebsk have gone to Belshina with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 2, 34 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk; Vitebsk go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vitebsk asked and Neman said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.76 for the rest of it.
Everything agreed with Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7.83, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Dinamo Minsk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Vladlen Anikeev has come up in conversations Vitebsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Marin Žgomba 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitebsk has been clear about where Jakob Slak stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Krasnov is on it.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Gomel go through and Vitebsk go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Kuntsevich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitebsk has been clear about where Marin Žgomba stands, which is more than many ever get.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Volna Pinsk, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 May 2029
A brace, and Marin Žgomba takes the afternoon — 7.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marin Žgomba provided it, and the 7.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2029
Marin Žgomba 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.
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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout14 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yahor Shikavka kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
Position 2, 19 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.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Belshina; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yahor Shikavka after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Fedor Lebedev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Kiss-Szemán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk 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 Vitebsk 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 Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Vekhtev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 8.05 — 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.
1 for Marin Žgomba, marked 7.62, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yevhen Protasov 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Something was said to Rady Yamlikhanov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It needed Marin Žgomba to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Lokomotiv Gomel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yahor Shikavka after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Soslan Dzarasov provided it, and the 8.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 7.61 for the rest of it.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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 Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marin Žgomba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Vekhtev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yevhen Protasov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 goals in one match, Marin Žgomba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Vitebsk and Niva.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Evgeniy Krasnov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsMilad Mohammadi ran the middle of the pitch — 7.00
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
7.62, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Vladislav Pulkach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marin Žgomba 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitebsk, another week without a signature from Fedor Lebedev.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
This is not rotation. Péter Kiss-Szemán has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Pulkach 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Grada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. BATE have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Marin Žgomba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Vitebsk will try again when the window opens; Arsenal Dzerzhinsk may not be selling by then.
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.
The mood at Vitebsk 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dušan Vukelić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Vitebsk will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Marin Žgomba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Vitebsk and Neman have settled on $1.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Vitebsk asked and Neman said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Pulkach 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladlen Anikeev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutYevhen Protasov has become a man the manager trusts
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vitebsk asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Marin Žgomba 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Radivoj Bosić has come up in conversations Vitebsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Grada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Neman is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Vitebsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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.
Sergey Zapalatskiy 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 mood at Vitebsk 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Pulkach 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.
Yevhen Protasov 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.
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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Vitebsk would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vladislav Pulkach may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Vsevolod Yermakov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Yahor Shikavka has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
This is not rotation. Péter Kiss-Szemán has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vitebsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Vsevolod Yermakov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Vitebsk has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Pulkach 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 Vitebsk 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.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Vsevolod Yermakov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Vitebsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dušan Vukelić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 Vitebsk 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.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladlen Anikeev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladlen Anikeev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Vitebsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Brian Leroy Onana may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Questions about Devid Kokoev on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vitaliy Palitsevich has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yahor Hleb 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 arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kemal Begić 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.
Vladislav Pulkach 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 Dec 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Brian Leroy Onana is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The mood at Vitebsk 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Marin Žgomba 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.
Yevhen Protasov 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladlen Anikeev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Novykh is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yevhen Protasov signs something — a contract at Vitebsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rady Yamlikhanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Evgeniy Krasnov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Marin Žgomba 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vitebsk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
7 goals in 22 games at Belshina — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vitebsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vitebsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vsevolod Yermakov commits to Vitebsk for another 2 years.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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.
Yevhen Protasov 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 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 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vitebsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dušan Vukelić 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Kiss-Szemán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Krasnov is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vitebsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marin Žgomba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yevhen Protasov signs something — a contract at Vitebsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vitebsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yevhen Protasov is on it.
7 goals in 22 games at Belshina — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vitebsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yevhen Protasov 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Kiss-Szemán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
18 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.
0‑4 to Neman, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
BATE go through and Vitebsk go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 15 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladlen Anikeev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.61 for the rest of it.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 Vitebsk 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk for Vladlen Anikeev 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Vitebsk will try again when the window opens; Slavia Mozyr may not be selling by then.
The name of Dušan Vukelić has come up in conversations Vitebsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Niva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nikita Vekhtev reports back to Vitebsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
$290.0K on the table at Slavia Mozyr. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Vitebsk have gone to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vitebsk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Volna Pinsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Belshina this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Roman Lisovskiy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadMarin Žgomba falls out with a teammate over standards
Position 15 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vitebsk have gone to Slavia Mozyr with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$62.0K on the table at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Molodechno had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have shaken hands with Belshina; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marin Žgomba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Žgomba 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.
Yevhen Protasov 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.
In brief
The dugoutNo place for Marin Žgomba on the big day
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Vekhtev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitebsk have done the hard part with Smorgon, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Roman Lisovskiy 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.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotiv Gomel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Evgeniy Novykh. The answer from Vitebsk has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
10 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.
2 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.
Position 14 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Dinamo Brest kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Vitebsk will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A brace, and Radivoj Bosić takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Radivoj Bosić provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with BATE; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$68.0K on the table at Volna Pinsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Isloch have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vitebsk have gone to Isloch with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Roman Lisovskiy 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.
$8.0K on the table at Uni-X Labs. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Vitebsk asked and Volna Pinsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Dušan Vukelić reports back to Vitebsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
$68.0K on the table at Volna Pinsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Vitebsk asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Naftan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Mohammadi 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Volna Pinsk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$130.0K on the table at Isloch. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Neman is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Isloch have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Volna Pinsk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Evgeniy Krasnov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dnepr Mogilev scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Vekhtev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yevhen Protasov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milad Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Yahor Shikavka to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1‑5 to Dinamo Minsk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match31 May 2028
Jakob Slak wins it after the whistle should have gone
113 minutes played. Jakob Slak found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Belshina went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Position 13 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Jakob Slak, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.27
A mark of 8.27 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitebsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Vitebsk and Dinamo Minsk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Vitebsk is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk 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 Milad Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Yahor Shikavka to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yevhen Protasov 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 Milad Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yahor Shikavka after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Novykh is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Yevhen Protasov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Kiss-Szemán 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yahor Shikavka on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitebsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Mohammadi 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 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 Vitebsk know it.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout8 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Yahor Shikavka to a room that had heard them before.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Alexandr Anufriev was at the centre of it, Arsenal Dzerzhinsk were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A 3‑2 win over Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk 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 Milad Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vitebsk, and 6 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout1 May 2028
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.” Yahor Shikavka, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dušan Vukelić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yevhen Protasov 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 Péter Kiss-Szemán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nikita Bylinkin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vitebsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Vitebsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vitebsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutEvgeniy Novykh asks for a word with the manager
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Vekhtev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Mohammadi 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.
Nikita Bylinkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
9 new faces, and Vitebsk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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 Yahor Shikavka left the room before anybody could ask which.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A 2‑1 win over Lokomotiv Gomel, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yegor Yunusov did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.57, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.46, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Something was said to Vsevolod Yermakov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Mohammadi 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Baranovichi next, and one man in the Vitebsk dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vitebsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vitebsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitebsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Mohammadi 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.
Yevhen Protasov 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Vitebsk will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nikita Bylinkin has his answer from Vitebsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vitebsk know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
9 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Yahor Shikavka to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nikita Naumov'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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitebsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Eslit Sala has, at Vitebsk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Vitebsk
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milad Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Matvey Kovruk has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vitebsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uladzislau Nekhaichik 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uni-X Labs waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $27.4K of what Vitebsk paid for Vladislav Fezhenko is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Vitebsk asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Vitebsk will try again when the window opens; Uni-X Labs may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yevhen Protasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitebsk have done the hard part with Dinamo Brest, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baranovichi have kept their man, and Vitebsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Orsha have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladislav Pulkach. The answer from Vitebsk has not changed — yet.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Pulkach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeniy Novykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Vitebsk have made the call to Baranovichi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slutsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vitebsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Volna Pinsk for Nikita Vekhtev 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vitebsk have gone to Slutsk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The phone has started ringing about Dušan Vukelić again, and this time the name on the line is Baranovichi. Vitebsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergey Zapalatskiy and Vitebsk agree another 3 years.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Vitebsk were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lida waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vitebsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mikhail Bashilov 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.
Vitebsk asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitebsk has been clear about where Nikita Naumov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Mikhail Bashilov 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.
Nobody at Vitebsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vitebsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdula Kichukov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Vitebsk the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Nikita Naumov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Vitebsk will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Position 11 on 33 points, with the season drifting toward the summer. It is the safest place in football and the hardest one to sell a season ticket from.
“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 Vitebsk, 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Kirill Rodionov'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.
In brief
The dugoutDevid Kokoev knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Kharitonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Krasnov is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dmitriy Kharitonov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mikhail Bashilov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Nikita Naumov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Novykh is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vitebsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitebsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mikhail Bashilov 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 will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vitebsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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 Vitebsk, 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nikita Vekhtev is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Pulkach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mikhail Bashilov 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Evgeniy Novykh is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vitebsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
“I did not go to Uni-X Labs to sit and watch. I want to come back to Vitebsk and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Kirill Rodionov'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Naumov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Kuntsevich 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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Naumov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Kuntsevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Grudko is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Vitebsk would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The coaching staff have set Soslan Dzarasov something separate to do. Whether it is a weakness being addressed or a strength being sharpened, nobody outside the building will know until it shows up on a Saturday.
In brief
BoardroomThe Vitebsk production line keeps running
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Lan Milanović
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitebsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Konstantin Magaletskiy and Vitebsk agree another 1 years.
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.