Marked for Alexey Titkov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Aug 2028
Pavel Popov 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Volna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Volna
Pavel Popov 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Mikhail Zabotkin has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Volna asked and Leningradets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Aug 2028
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.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Dmitry Rebrov slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dmitry Rebrov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chelyabinsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Volna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Pavel Popov for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Volna will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Pavel Popov in a row with a teammate
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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The numbers do not look good at Volna
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Dinamo Vladivostok have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Elias Sormunen commits to Volna for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad7 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Dec 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Volna
Pavel Popov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Volna
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Popovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
101% 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Titkov, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Ivan Migunov 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 ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market29 Nov 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 Volna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Volna
Pavel Popov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 113% of the Volna 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Pavel Popov
7.71, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Volna had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.
Match27 Nov 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Titkov, and the manager let it.