Ural is in my prediction 2 or 3 seasons away from RPL. Of course, resigning key players could make this coming year a reality. Also, getting new facilities will undoubtedly help.

Are you the Savicevic from Jonathan Wilson’s Guardian football blogs? If so, a warm welcome to you from Kanchelskis!

Chris, this is a GREAT article. Thanks very much indeed. I often wonder what happened to clubs like Uralmash Ekaterinberg, Fakel Voronezh, Zhemchuzina Sochi etc. The penchant Russian clubs have for name changes (albeit mostly due to political reasons) can be quite annoying and make you lose track of those clubs. It’s a bit like a detective being thrown off the scent…
Anyway, why FC Ural Chris? I used to have a Russian penfriend who was part of the FC Asmaral set-up – remember them? I think they’ve gone bust now. Very good work and thanks for listening to your audience. As the man of many names, I’m delighted to read this. How long do you think it will be until they get to the premier league?

All the best and many thanks again. It’s reading things like this article that help me realise the bigger picture and eventually it’ll help me get over the national teams’s ridiculous loss.