Marked for Evgeniy Zubov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Vsevolod Yermakov damages knee ligaments — 108 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Volgar
Kirill Kolesnichenko 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Oleg Suvorov out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashuk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Oleg Suvorov 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The numbers do not look good at Mashuk
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Oleg Suvorov out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashuk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anzor Khutov and Mashuk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I watch every Mashuk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Vologda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Evgeniy Zubov 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
Squad1 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vsevolod Yermakov
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Volgar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 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 Volgar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The numbers do not look good at Volgar
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.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Mashuk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Volgar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ibragim Umarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Volgar 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Vyacheslav Krotov reports back to Volgar with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market1 Feb 2027
Volgar say no — this time
The offer from Irkutsk for Magomed Nasibov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad1 Feb 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 Volgar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Volgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Morozov 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Training ground row involving Yegor Proshkin
Tempers went at Volgar this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jan 2027
Mashuk are in real trouble now
Position 10, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market25 Jan 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.
Squad25 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
191% of the income goes out in wages at Mashuk
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vadim Konyukhov has his answer from Mashuk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Kirill Zakharov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Mashuk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Mashuk
Astemir Abazov 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.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I watch every Mashuk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Vladivostok runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruslan Khagur, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The numbers do not look good at Mashuk
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Mashuk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evgeniy Zubov 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
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nazar Mamonov damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Volgar have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Volgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Morozov 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
Uneasy
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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Evgeniy Zubov 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
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Volgar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 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 Volgar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Mashuk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Volgar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Volgar's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Volgar has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Nov 2026
Volgar cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad9 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 Volgar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Volgar
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Volgar did not have in the autumn.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Volgar
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Volgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Morozov 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Volgar, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Volgar pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Mashuk's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mashuk has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Oct 2026
Mashuk cannot find the net
9 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Mashuk
Astemir Abazov 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Dinamo Vologda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mashuk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Mashuk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evgeniy Zubov 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Mashuk?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Veles? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Mashuk lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 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 Volgar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Volgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Morozov 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Mashuk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Volgar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Mashuk
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Mashuk are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a goal for Mashuk
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 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 Mashuk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Textilschik left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Evgeniy Zubov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruslan Khagur, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.