Marked for Stipe Šimurina
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
Assman Hamadi damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Torpedo Miass boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Miass people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The deal with Arsenal Tula is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Neftyanik is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Maxim Tarasov 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 Jun 2028
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Apr 2028
Shakhter Donetsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo Miass were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market24 Apr 2028
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Miass they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Assman Hamadi, 18, 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 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Miass may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Torpedo Miass — 7.97
1 for Makar Makarov, marked 7.97, 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A season average of 7.23 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Maxim Tarasov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces24 Apr 2028
He is 18 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Alexandr Balakhonov 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
Uneasy
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Miass people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market28 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Torpedo Miass
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Vologda have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Maxim Tarasov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The medical room confirms 19 days on the sidelines for Elvin Talibov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match26 Feb 2028
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sevastopol scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Torpedo Miass had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Torpedo Miass, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Evgeny Ibragimov'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 dugout20 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Zapalatskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
Evgeny Lopatko damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces6 Sep 2027
Anger at Torpedo Miass 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The deal with Mashuk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Znamya Truda have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Maxim Tarasov 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Torpedo Miass are dealing with a man who wants a different country.