Marked for Ehsan Ghoddos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Kirill Folmer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Volga is pretending otherwise.
Market28 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Volga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Volga is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Volga
Rinat Shakerov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Volga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Saplinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Aleksandr Dovgal' again, and this time the name on the line is Chaika. Volga are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad28 Jun 2027
The medical room confirms 58 days on the sidelines for Noah Steine Jakobsen, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2027
Kirill Folmer 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 Volga can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout31 May 2027
This is not rotation. Kirill Folmer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Volga is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Volga
Kirill Folmer 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Volga can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Volga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Murza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danil Novikov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch31 May 2027
Denis Yeremeev’s loan is measured in nothing happening
9 clean sheets from 22 appearances at Amkar. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout31 May 2027
Artur Murza 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 Artur Murza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 May 2027
Dmitry Tikhiy gets picked when it counts
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 Dmitry Tikhiy is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 May 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 Volga can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Rakhmanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volga the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Volga
Ruslan Bart 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A move Ehsan Ghoddos would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ehsan Ghoddos is living that version at Volga, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Volga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Folmer 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 dugout24 May 2027
Nobody at Volga 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.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Evgeny Voronin 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.
Market24 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volga know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ali Al-Juhani damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
9 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 ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Alfredo Troncoso takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alfredo Troncoso provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
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 Al-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Al-Fayha 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.
Squad4 Jan 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; Al-Mojzel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A last season at home is what Alfredo Troncoso is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Al-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Al-Mojzel until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Riyadh is saying, and nobody at Al-Mojzel is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Mojzel have done the hard part with Al-Riyadh, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Mojzel
Alex Lima 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 Sep 2026
A move Ehsan Ghoddos would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ehsan Ghoddos is living that version at Al-Mojzel, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Al-Mojzel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salman Al-Sheikh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Al-Mojzel know which stage they are at.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.