Marked for Carlos Barba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Gocha Gogrichiani damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
12 unbeaten for Volna
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Volna did not have in the autumn.
Market4 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Volna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Shashkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad4 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ivan Severjanov 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michel Estela, and the manager let it.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I watch every Volna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Avangard runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gocha Gogrichiani damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Denis Kaikov out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Dec 2026
Carlos Barba 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 Volna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
9 unbeaten for Volna
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Volna did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Up for the corner, and Arseny Yagodkin delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arseny Yagodkin scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad14 Dec 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
At 23 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
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gocha Gogrichiani damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Denis Kaikov out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match14 Nov 2026
Evgeny Ragulkin wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Evgeny Ragulkin found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Uralets-TS went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market16 Nov 2026
Carlos Barba 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 Volna can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Carlos Barba: 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.” Volna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Volna
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Volna did not have in the autumn.
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for Volna, 2‑1 the final word against Uralets-TS in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gocha Gogrichiani damages knee ligaments — 119 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Denis Kaikov out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Nov 2026
Michel Estela 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 Volna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Volna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Severjanov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
199% of the income goes out in wages at Volna
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Denis Kaikov out for 120 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Volna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Zabotkin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Volna
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Volna are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
Amkar take the points off Volna
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Evgeny Ragulkin 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Volna signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jean Sales 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 Jean Sales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.