Marked for Denis Arslanov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Torpedo Vladimir boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market12 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Denis Arslanov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denis Arslanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Vladimir the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Denis Arslanov 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Bogdaev 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Konstantin Popov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Torpedo Vladimir
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Feb 2028
20 days out for Danil Glinskiy after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Vladimir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Feb 2028
“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 Vladimir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Volgar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zenit is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alania have kept their man, and Torpedo Vladimir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Feb 2028
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Konstantin Simakov 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Torpedo Vladimir now.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Oct 2027
Sokol ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad18 Oct 2027
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.
Market18 Oct 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 dugout18 Oct 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad18 Oct 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Aug 2027
A 2‑0 win over Kyzyltash, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market23 Aug 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 Vladimir, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Denis Arslanov 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ilya Moiseev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad23 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Ilja Zharov 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 dugout31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Valery Arkhipenko 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 dugout31 May 2027
Ilja Zharov 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 dugout31 May 2027
Valery Arkhipenko has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Market31 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Vladimir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad31 May 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Full confidence, expressed in the dull, deliberate language boards reserve for when they mean it. The window that follows will show whether the words came with money attached.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Vladimir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ivan Nesterov 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Denis Arslanov
“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 dugout29 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.