From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Market29 Nov 2032
Mark Okulov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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 dugout29 Nov 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Sergey Kopylov'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.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
Nobody at Zenit Penza is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market29 Nov 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladislav Teplyakov signs something — a contract at Zenit Penza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market29 Nov 2032
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zenit Penza money.
Market29 Nov 2032
Zenit Penza have made Nikita Baranov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2032
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market22 Nov 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout22 Nov 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Nov 2032
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Nov 2032
3 matches without a goal for Zenit Penza
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings22 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Match20 Nov 2032
0‑2 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom22 Nov 2032
No signings allowed at Zenit Penza
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Nov 2032
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Market15 Nov 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Nov 2032
8 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Makushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Artur Avagumyan 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 dugout15 Nov 2032
“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.
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings15 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2032
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zenit Penza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market8 Nov 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 Nov 2032
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout8 Nov 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
$298.3K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
Wages swallow 263% of the Zenit Penza income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2032
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match30 Oct 2032
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.
Market1 Nov 2032
Mark Okulov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Match30 Oct 2032
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Makushkin 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.
Match1 Nov 2032
Half the programme played, position 12, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2032
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zenit Penza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Oct 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match23 Oct 2032
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match23 Oct 2032
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Match23 Oct 2032
0‑1 to Znamya Truda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom25 Oct 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2032
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zenit Penza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces18 Oct 2032
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Market18 Oct 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match16 Oct 2032
4 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2032
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match16 Oct 2032
0‑2 to Strogino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
The manager makes an example of Nikita Baranov
“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 dugout18 Oct 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 2032
A muscle injury and 18 days out for Alexey Makushkin
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zenit Penza will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Player ratings11 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
Wages eat 232% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Vegard King 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 dugout11 Oct 2032
The manager makes an example of Allan Purisevic
“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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market11 Oct 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings4 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 41. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market4 Oct 2032
Mark Okulov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
$272.0K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Makushkin 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.
Match2 Oct 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 Sep 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
“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.
Match25 Sep 2032
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match25 Sep 2032
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces20 Sep 2032
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Market20 Sep 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Makushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Sep 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafael Vidović. 1‑0 against SKA Khabarovsk 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
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.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings13 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market13 Sep 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Sep 2032
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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
Zenit Penza close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 18 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Nikita Baranov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Sep 2032
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Nalchik have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Makushkin 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.
Match11 Sep 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vildan Yermilov. 1‑0 against Rotor 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Sep 2032
0‑5 to Salyut, 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.
Market6 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Sep 2032
6 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Allan Purisevic commits to Zenit Penza for another 4 years.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
The owner puts $285.4K into Zenit Penza
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Wages swallow 228% of the Zenit Penza income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2032
0‑4 to Kvant, 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.
Market30 Aug 2032
Vegard King hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Aug 2032
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Makushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Allan Purisevic, and the manager let it.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 Aug 2032
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Match18 Aug 2032
Nart ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match21 Aug 2032
Zenit Penza throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Ryazan the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Zenit Penza will enjoy reviewing.
Market23 Aug 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Aug 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match21 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Makushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Vegard King 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2032
Mark Okulov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Druzhba have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
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.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
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 Franciszek Antkiewicz is on it.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“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.
Market16 Aug 2032
The clock does Allan Purisevic’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zenit Penza could ask drops and the wages Allan Purisevic can ask rise.
Market16 Aug 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Teplyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2032
Chastening afternoon for Zenit Penza
A 1‑4 beating by Metallurg was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market9 Aug 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
180% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Adrian Platon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jayden Prunty, and the manager let it.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Aug 2032
Vegard King hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Aug 2032
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
$203.4K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Makushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Jul 2032
0‑2 to Orel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces26 Jul 2032
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market26 Jul 2032
A stepping stone, not a home, for Nikita Baranov
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Zenit Penza were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Nikita Baranov
“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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Zenit Penza are still strangers to each other
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 Jul 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zenit Penza may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match17 Jul 2032
4 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match17 Jul 2032
1‑3 to Spartak Tambov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Arsenal Tula said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Match17 Jul 2032
Zenit Penza are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Market12 Jul 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Makushkin 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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
146% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
The borrowing at Zenit Penza reaches $4.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad12 Jul 2032
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zenit Penza know which stage they are at.
Market12 Jul 2032
Zenit Penza have let the market know Jayden Prunty can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 Jul 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
$268.3K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Leningradets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad5 Jul 2032
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Vildan Yermilov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Jun 2032
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Match28 Jun 2032
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market28 Jun 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zenit Penza have done the hard part with Baltika, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Makushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
Allan Purisevic asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market28 Jun 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Dmitryuk signs something — a contract at Zenit Penza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jun 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Market21 Jun 2032
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
A loan enquiry to Saturn: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad21 Jun 2032
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 dugout21 Jun 2032
The manager makes an example of Mark Okulov
“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.
Market21 Jun 2032
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zenit Penza money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Market14 Jun 2032
Petros Kolias has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zenit Penza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market14 Jun 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Yegor Tarin has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Zenit Penza have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
Wages eat 119% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
The borrowing at Zenit Penza reaches $4.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Market14 Jun 2032
The clock does Filip Kramaric’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zenit Penza could ask drops and the wages Filip Kramaric can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Jun 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Jun 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Dmitryuk commits to Zenit Penza for another 2 years.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
$241.0K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Makushkin 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad7 Jun 2032
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 May 2032
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Match31 May 2032
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market31 May 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 May 2032
Only the photograph left for Filip Kramaric
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Kramaric will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zenit Penza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squad31 May 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2032
The manager makes an example of Aleksey Danilov
“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.
Market24 May 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Teplyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market24 May 2032
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zenit Penza money.
Market24 May 2032
Zenit Penza have let the market know Filip Kramaric can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 May 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market17 May 2032
Only the photograph left for Petros Kolias
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petros Kolias will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zenit Penza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market17 May 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Vegard King and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 May 2032
The Zenit Penza debt reaches $4.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout17 May 2032
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 Riccardo Carrubba is on it.
The dugout17 May 2032
Allan Purisevic asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market17 May 2032
The name of Dmitry Korolev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zenit Penza say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout10 May 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 May 2032
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom10 May 2032
Wages swallow 138% of the Zenit Penza income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Boardroom10 May 2032
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad10 May 2032
The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Viktor Vasilyev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market10 May 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 May 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 May 2032
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Match3 May 2032
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
Position 14 and 13 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.
Boardroom3 May 2032
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 May 2032
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market3 May 2032
Only the photograph left for Filip Kramaric
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Kramaric will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zenit Penza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market3 May 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom3 May 2032
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad3 May 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 May 2032
$258.5K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Apr 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Dmitryuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Zenit Penza are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
Fyodor Nekrasov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Apr 2032
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 Apr 2032
A fracture rules Lennon Patterson out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zenit Penza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Apr 2032
Petros Kolias has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zenit Penza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 2032
A muscle injury sidelines Vildan Yermilov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Zenit Penza will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Andrei Yershov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
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 Riccardo Carrubba is on it.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
Lennon Patterson asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Apr 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 Apr 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
Wages eat 176% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
Market12 Apr 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
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.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lennon Patterson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Apr 2032
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zenit Penza money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces5 Apr 2032
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Squad5 Apr 2032
A fracture rules Lennon Patterson out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zenit Penza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Apr 2032
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 Apr 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Apr 2032
285 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Zenit Penza know what they have.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
$278.8K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2032
A fracture rules Lennon Patterson out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zenit Penza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 Mar 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zenit Penza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Dmitryuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Vegard King 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.
Market29 Mar 2032
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Riccardo Carrubba may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Allan Purisevic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2032
51 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market22 Mar 2032
Only the photograph left for Petros Kolias
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petros Kolias will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zenit Penza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Kopylov 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
The Zenit Penza debt reaches $4.4M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Too much change too quickly at Zenit Penza
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
Riccardo Carrubba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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 dugout22 Mar 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2032
58 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Mar 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 Mar 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Dmitryuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 Mar 2032
Wages eat 191% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
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 Franciszek Antkiewicz is on it.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
Filip Kramaric knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Kramaric trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Mar 2032
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 Zenit Penza would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces8 Mar 2032
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Squad8 Mar 2032
65 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match8 Mar 2032
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Mar 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
$294.9K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Orel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2032
72 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Mar 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Zenit Penza close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Volna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Kopylov 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 dugout1 Mar 2032
Vildan Yermilov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Vildan Yermilov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Feb 2032
79 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market23 Feb 2032
Only the photograph left for Petros Kolias
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petros Kolias will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zenit Penza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Petros Kolias 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Transfer targets23 Feb 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amkar have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Zenit Penza are still strangers to each other
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Feb 2032
A fracture rules Lennon Patterson out for 86 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zenit Penza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Feb 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 Feb 2032
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Transfer targets16 Feb 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leningradets have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom16 Feb 2032
213% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
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.
Market16 Feb 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Feb 2032
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
93 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match9 Feb 2032
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market9 Feb 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexey Makushkin commits to Zenit Penza for another 2 years.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Match7 Feb 2032
3 matches without a goal for Zenit Penza
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets9 Feb 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Tambov have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Feb 2032
100 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Jan 2032
0‑4 to Strogino, 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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Feb 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Feb 2032
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.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Makushkin and Zenit Penza agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Feb 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
The owner puts $258.9K into Zenit Penza
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
Zenit Penza asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jan 2032
107 days out for Lennon Patterson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zenit Penza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jan 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Druzhba have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match24 Jan 2032
Rodina M left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
A loan enquiry to Akron: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jan 2032
A fracture rules Lennon Patterson out for 114 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zenit Penza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Jan 2032
It had gone 16 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
No sign of nerves from Petros Kolias at 20 — 7.83
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Petros Kolias did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market19 Jan 2032
Makar Zaytsev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Jan 2032
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Jan 2032
Wages eat 195% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
The terraces19 Jan 2032
He is 19 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jan 2032
16 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
The terraces12 Jan 2032
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A fracture rules Lennon Patterson out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zenit Penza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Jan 2032
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market12 Jan 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Match10 Jan 2032
Dinamo Bryansk left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jan 2032
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
Lennon Patterson: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zenit Penza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Jan 2032
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitry Korolev and Zenit Penza agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The owner puts $239.8K into Zenit Penza
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Alexey Makushkin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Dec 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match27 Dec 2031
0‑3 to Rotor 2, 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.
Market29 Dec 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2031
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead29 Dec 2031
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
Nobody left the Zenit Penza dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Dec 2031
13 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
No sign of nerves from Filip Kramaric at 18 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Filip Kramaric did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market22 Dec 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Dec 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Dec 2031
1‑3 to Salyut, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Ufa will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Daniil Zhuravlev has pre-agreed a move to Zenit Penza, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Makushkin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Dec 2031
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Match13 Dec 2031
12 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Dec 2031
12 matches without a goal for Zenit Penza
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 12 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match15 Dec 2031
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
Position 13 and 9 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.
Market15 Dec 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Filip Kramaric 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.
Match13 Dec 2031
0‑2 to Kvant, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Dec 2031
11 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Match6 Dec 2031
11 matches without a goal for Zenit Penza
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 11 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Dec 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Dec 2031
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
The owner puts $225.0K into Zenit Penza
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeni Ustinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Dec 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Filip Kramaric 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.
Market1 Dec 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Alexandr Dmitryuk is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zenit Penza has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fyodor Nekrasov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Nov 2031
10 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
162% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Match22 Nov 2031
0‑1 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
The Zenit Penza debt reaches $4.4M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Andrei Yershov 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 dugout24 Nov 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 Nov 2031
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Match15 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 Nov 2031
9 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match17 Nov 2031
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
Position 13 and 8 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 ratings17 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Timur Zainullin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zenit Penza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Nov 2031
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeni Ustinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Nov 2031
8 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Nov 2031
8 matches without a goal for Zenit Penza
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market10 Nov 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Looking ahead10 Nov 2031
Zenit Penza face Orel in the game that matters most
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
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 Riccardo Carrubba is on it.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danila Kerzhakov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match1 Nov 2031
0‑5 against Spartak Tambov, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Nov 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match1 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Nov 2031
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.
Match1 Nov 2031
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad3 Nov 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Dmitryuk and Zenit Penza agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Nov 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Oct 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Oct 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Match25 Oct 2031
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Oct 2031
0‑1 to Znamya Truda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
Wages eat 132% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
“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.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market27 Oct 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces20 Oct 2031
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Match18 Oct 2031
0‑5 against Strogino, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match20 Oct 2031
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match18 Oct 2031
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match18 Oct 2031
The goals have deserted Zenit Penza
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zenit Penza can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Filip Kramaric 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.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Oct 2031
Beaten 0‑4 by Rodina M, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market13 Oct 2031
Makar Zaytsev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Oct 2031
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.
Match11 Oct 2031
The goals have deserted Zenit Penza
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zenit Penza can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom13 Oct 2031
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match1 Oct 2031
The small margins put Zenit Penza out
Out, 0‑3 to Zenit, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Market6 Oct 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces6 Oct 2031
Zenit Penza are taken apart by Zenit — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Riccardo Carrubba and Zenit Penza agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The owner puts $185.1K into Zenit Penza
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Match4 Oct 2031
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Sep 2031
Chastening afternoon for Zenit Penza
A 0‑3 beating by Dinamo Bryansk was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad29 Sep 2031
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
Timur Zainullin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zenit Penza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
The borrowing at Zenit Penza reaches $4.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
105% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
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 Franciszek Antkiewicz is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces22 Sep 2031
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Match20 Sep 2031
14 matches without a win, and then this, against SKA Khabarovsk 2. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match22 Sep 2031
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Marked 8.02 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Transfer targets22 Sep 2031
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.
The terraces22 Sep 2031
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Boardroom22 Sep 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Sep 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market15 Sep 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Transfer targets15 Sep 2031
Zenit Penza asked and Orel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Sep 2031
0‑1 to Rotor 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Sep 2031
13 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Match6 Sep 2031
1‑5 to Salyut, 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.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Zenit Penza until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergey Kopylov commits to Zenit Penza for another 4 years.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zenit Penza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match6 Sep 2031
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zenit Penza and Salyut in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
$159.6K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
Zenit Penza asked and Spartak Tambov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Aug 2031
12 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Sep 2031
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Aug 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Korolev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
The Zenit Penza debt reaches $4.1M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market1 Sep 2031
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.
Market1 Sep 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces25 Aug 2031
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Match23 Aug 2031
11 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
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.
Match20 Aug 2031
Dinamo Bryansk are out and Zenit Penza go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad25 Aug 2031
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Match23 Aug 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Aug 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Zenit Penza asked and Druzhba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Andrei Yershov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
Fyodor Nekrasov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market18 Aug 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zenit Penza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market18 Aug 2031
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zenit Penza money.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
The Zenit Penza academy earns its keep
59 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Squad18 Aug 2031
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Match9 Aug 2031
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market11 Aug 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Dmitry Korolev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Dmitry Korolev has improved at 30, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Match9 Aug 2031
3 matches without a goal for Zenit Penza
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Kramaric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Aug 2031
8 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Market4 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Aug 2031
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
$173.0K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Voices raised on the Zenit Penza training ground
Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The borrowing at Zenit Penza reaches $4.1M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Market4 Aug 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Jul 2031
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Match26 Jul 2031
7 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
Zenit Penza still without a manager
13 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“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.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
Wages swallow 103% of the Zenit Penza income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
Marked 7.41 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Zenit Penza had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Match19 Jul 2031
Beaten 1‑4 by Spartak Tambov, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
Zenit Penza have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Match19 Jul 2031
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.
Market21 Jul 2031
Makar Zaytsev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Salyut have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Chaika is saying, and nobody at Zenit Penza is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Strogino have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
A loan move for Evgeniy Fokin is in the works
Zenit Penza have made the call to Salyut. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market14 Jul 2031
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Jul 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Jul 2031
256 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Makushkin and Zenit Penza agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
$164.3K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Zenit Penza asked and Torpedo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Jun 2031
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Match30 Jun 2031
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
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.
Market30 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Andrei Yershov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
Dmitry Korolev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Korolev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
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.
Market30 Jun 2031
The name of Dmitry Korolev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zenit Penza say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Jun 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad23 Jun 2031
Dmitry Korolev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Zenit Penza asked and Druzhba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franciszek Antkiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom23 Jun 2031
Wages swallow 102% of the Zenit Penza income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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 Arseny Avvakumov is on it.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
Dmitry Korolev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Jun 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom16 Jun 2031
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market16 Jun 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franciszek Antkiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout16 Jun 2031
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 Franciszek Antkiewicz is on it.
Market16 Jun 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Dmitryuk signs something — a contract at Zenit Penza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Boardroom16 Jun 2031
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
Aron Gudmundsson asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout9 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market9 Jun 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad9 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Jun 2031
The Zenit Penza debt reaches $4.1M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
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.
Market9 Jun 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Teplyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market9 Jun 2031
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Zenit Penza could get for him.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Alexey Makushkin 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.
Market9 Jun 2031
Zenit Penza have made Fyodor Nekrasov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Jun 2031
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Match2 Jun 2031
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 14, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
Foma Ostrovsky has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market2 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Jun 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
$172.6K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad2 Jun 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 May 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 May 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Squad26 May 2031
“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 Zenit Penza know it.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franciszek Antkiewicz 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.
Boardroom26 May 2031
Wages eat 104% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
The dugout26 May 2031
Arseny Avvakumov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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 dugout26 May 2031
Mark Okulov gets it from the manager
“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 dugout26 May 2031
Filip Kramaric asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 May 2031
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market19 May 2031
Andrey Egorov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 May 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout19 May 2031
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 Franciszek Antkiewicz is on it.
The dugout19 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Evgeni Ustinov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout12 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 May 2031
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.
Boardroom12 May 2031
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad12 May 2031
Andrei Yershov 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 dugout12 May 2031
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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 dugout12 May 2031
Dmitry Korolev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Korolev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 May 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Aron Gudmundsson has his answer from Zenit Penza; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market12 May 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Teplyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market12 May 2031
The clock does Egor Kozlovsky’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zenit Penza could ask drops and the wages Egor Kozlovsky can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces5 May 2031
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Match5 May 2031
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 14, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom5 May 2031
Foma Ostrovsky has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 May 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 May 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout5 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 May 2031
$181.2K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franciszek Antkiewicz 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Apr 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Apr 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
Wages swallow 102% of the Zenit Penza income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
Arseny Avvakumov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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 dugout28 Apr 2031
“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.
Market28 Apr 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zenit Penza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market28 Apr 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zenit Penza, another week without a signature from Evgeni Ustinov.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
Matvey Zubov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matvey Zubov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Apr 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market21 Apr 2031
Andrey Egorov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franciszek Antkiewicz 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 dugout21 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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.
Market21 Apr 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Dmitryuk signs something — a contract at Zenit Penza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market21 Apr 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
Aron Gudmundsson asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout14 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market14 Apr 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2031
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.
Boardroom14 Apr 2031
The borrowing at Zenit Penza reaches $4.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
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.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
Filip Kramaric knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Apr 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Teplyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 Apr 2031
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Zenit Penza says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Apr 2031
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
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.
Match7 Apr 2031
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Apr 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Apr 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Dmitryuk commits to Zenit Penza for another 2 years.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
$184.1K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Mar 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad31 Mar 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franciszek Antkiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
Wages eat 114% of everything Zenit Penza earn
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.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
Arseny Avvakumov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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 dugout31 Mar 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fyodor Nekrasov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 Mar 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zenit Penza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market31 Mar 2031
Zenit Penza have made Andrey Egorov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 Mar 2031
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market24 Mar 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franciszek Antkiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Mar 2031
Andrei Yershov 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 dugout24 Mar 2031
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 Franciszek Antkiewicz is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Mar 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Mar 2031
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Boardroom17 Mar 2031
The borrowing at Zenit Penza reaches $4.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
Egor Kozlovsky asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market17 Mar 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Teplyakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market17 Mar 2031
The clock does Egor Kozlovsky’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zenit Penza could ask drops and the wages Egor Kozlovsky can ask rise.
Market17 Mar 2031
Zenit Penza have made Timur Zainullin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Mar 2031
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Match10 Mar 2031
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 14, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market10 Mar 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
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Squad10 Mar 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
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.
Boardroom10 Mar 2031
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
Dmitry Korolev asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
The manager makes an example of Matvey Zubov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
Foma Ostrovsky has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market3 Mar 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
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Squad3 Mar 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
$173.3K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franciszek Antkiewicz 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.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
125% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Feb 2031
Only the photograph left for Dmitry Korolev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Korolev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zenit Penza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market24 Feb 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
Window shuts: 0 in, 3 out at Zenit Penza
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
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The dugout24 Feb 2031
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.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fyodor Nekrasov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Feb 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
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Squad17 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Druzhba have kept their man, and Zenit Penza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franciszek Antkiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
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.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artyom Yevseyev, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Filip Kramaric knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Kramaric trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Feb 2031
The mood at Zenit Penza 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.
Match10 Feb 2031
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match8 Feb 2031
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Market10 Feb 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
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Squad10 Feb 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Foma Ostrovsky has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zenit Penza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market3 Feb 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
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Match1 Feb 2031
4 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Market3 Feb 2031
The phone has started ringing about Filip Kramaric again, and this time the name on the line is Angusht. Zenit Penza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match1 Feb 2031
Strogino left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
$175.9K of the owner's money at Zenit Penza
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Riccardo Carrubba 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Jan 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zenit Penza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match25 Jan 2031
Chastening afternoon for Zenit Penza
A 0‑4 beating by Rodina M was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market27 Jan 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franciszek Antkiewicz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Jan 2031
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Squad27 Jan 2031
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Zenit Penza dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Arseny Avvakumov has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 56. 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.
Market20 Jan 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
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Squad20 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit Penza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Carrubba 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.
Match18 Jan 2031
1‑2 to Arsenal Tula 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergey Kopylov, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Foma Ostrovsky to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
Nobody at Zenit Penza 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces13 Jan 2031
Supporters organise against the Zenit Penza board
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.
Match13 Jan 2031
Every point is an argument now for Zenit Penza
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.
Market13 Jan 2031
“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 Zenit Penza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Carrubba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Jan 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
No signings allowed at Zenit Penza
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Looking ahead13 Jan 2031
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Zenit Penza know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
The Zenit Penza debt reaches $4.3M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market6 Jan 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad6 Jan 2031
Alexandr Dmitryuk 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.
Match4 Jan 2031
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
$179.0K from the owner keeps Zenit Penza afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad6 Jan 2031
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.