“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Roman Volochay had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Vyacheslav Vinnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Konstantin Tarnolitskiy 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 Mar 2028
Nikita Platon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semyon Zelenov, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Akron 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Platon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Akron 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Akron 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Nikita Platon 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.
Roman Volochay was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Akron 2 has been clear about where Sevastjan Kachura stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutNazar Makeev knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akron 2, another week without a signature from Konstantin Tarnolitskiy.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Semyon Zelenov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Akron 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
12 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.
“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 Akron 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Konstantin Tarnolitskiy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Artem Grigorjev will call it something else in private.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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 Torpedo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mikhail Volkov has left for Akron in a $500.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Yushin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Moscow told Alexey Kashtanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and Torpedo Moscow are still learning each other
1‑4 against Chernomorets, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Borodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kirill Folmer
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ural waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mikhail Volkov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Torpedo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rotor paid $520.0K and Torpedo Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Borodin 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.
Torpedo Moscow asked and Noah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Moscow will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Torpedo Moscow had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Orenburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Mario Ćurić 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Borodin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tresor Samba is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Moscow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Moscow will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Torpedo Moscow asked and AZ 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 2027
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Ćurić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Torpedo Moscow will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Nobody at Torpedo Moscow 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 window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Artur Galoyan’s exile
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Moscow they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Ćurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Yakov Kuznetsov could afford to be generous.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mikhail Volkov has his answer from Torpedo Moscow; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
7.65, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Mario Ćurić 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.
Alexandr Yushin scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Volga, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Torpedo Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Yushin 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Yakov Kuznetsov left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everybody at Torpedo Moscow saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 39 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
11 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.
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 Mamadou Camara is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alexey Kashtanov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Torpedo Moscow needing him to play as if none of it matters.