Marked for Konstantin Simakov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Ilja Zharov 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 Torpedo Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Vyaznikov 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“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 Vladimir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 Konstantin Simakov is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
IBV come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Torpedo Vladimir did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Nikita Kolganov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Korenblyum 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.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Torpedo Vladimir, and 1 appearances in 31 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Torpedo Vladimir have let the market know Nikita Kolganov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Danil Glinskiy 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 Danil Glinskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“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 targets15 Feb 2027
$41.0K settles it between the clubs for Artem Kulishev
Leningradets have accepted the money. What Torpedo Vladimir do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Konstantin Popov 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Irkutsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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 Vladimir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Torpedo Vladimir scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Konstantin Simakov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Alexandr Komissarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.08
A mark of 9.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Leningradets, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Torpedo Vladimir, 4‑3 the final word against Tver in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A performance of 9.57 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Alexey Laptev breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jan 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Torpedo Vladimir can tell you which week it ends in.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Maxim Vafiev
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Korenblyum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Druzhba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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 Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Alexandr Komissarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Torpedo Vladimir — 7.83
1 for Sergey Chernenko, marked 7.83, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nikita Kolganov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Dec 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Cherepovets tried to reorganise, Torpedo Vladimir did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Irkutsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexandr Komissarov did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Konstantin Popov 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
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.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Druzhba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match12 Dec 2026
It needed Alexandr Komissarov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Irkutsk, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniil Kleiner
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Alexandr Komissarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Stanislav Utkin 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 155% of everything Torpedo Vladimir 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alexandr Korenblyum 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Kolomna scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Nov 2026
“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 Nov 2026
7 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Alexandr Komissarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Nov 2026
Zenit 2 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Kolganov, and the manager let it.
Match16 Nov 2026
Position 7, 21 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Druzhba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Torpedo Vladimir and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.45 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nikita Kolganov pops up at the right end — 7.62
7.62, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Torpedo Vladimir did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 155% of everything Torpedo Vladimir 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 terraces2 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fyodor Avdeev on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Korenblyum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
10 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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Druzhba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danil Glinskiy, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Konstantin Simakov is on it.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Tver next, and one man in the Torpedo Vladimir dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Komissarov signs something — a contract at Torpedo Vladimir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“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 Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.15, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stanislav Utkin 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Torpedo Vladimir, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.” Fyodor Avdeev chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Sergey Chernenko 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
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Danil Glinskiy: 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.” Torpedo Vladimir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Konstantin Popov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 212% of the Torpedo Vladimir 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 22 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match3 Oct 2026
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Spartak Moscow 2 had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.58 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Torpedo Vladimir had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 9.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over Kosmos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandr Komissarov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Kosmos. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Torpedo Vladimir are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Maxim Vafiev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Torpedo Vladimir, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Kosmos go through and Torpedo Vladimir go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Kostryukov, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fyodor Avdeev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir 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.