Marked for Sergey Isayev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Aug 2028
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Irtysh will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market28 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Innokentiy Pyankov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Torpedo Miass asked and Irtysh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Evgeny Ibragimov 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Three points for Torpedo Miass, 1‑0 the final word against Irtysh in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout28 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Ivan Kotelnikov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Belyaev
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Miass lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Torpedo Miass is running low.
Market17 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vyacheslav Bezzubov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Apr 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 Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Vinogradov 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Nikita Baksheev
“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
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
Alexandr Belyaev damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Nikita Khlynov 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 dugout13 Mar 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market13 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 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 Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout17 Jan 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Sergey Isayev 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.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Dmitry Kuzmin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Miass, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Torpedo Miass is running low.
Market29 Nov 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Miass they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 152% of everything Torpedo Miass earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Tarasov, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Sergey Isayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 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 Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Oct 2027
4 matches without a win for Torpedo Miass
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Torpedo Miass are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Torpedo Miass
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.
Match9 Oct 2027
0‑2 to Avangard, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Evgeni Alexandrov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Sergey Isayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vyacheslav Bezzubov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Miass may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match2 Oct 2027
Kaluga left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Maxim Tarasov 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 ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
137% of the income goes out in wages at Torpedo Miass
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 dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Kuzmin
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Aug 2027
Rubin Yalta ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match23 Aug 2027
Position 5, 6 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Miass they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin has a hand in both — 7.93
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.93, and involved in 3 of his side's goals.
Transfer targets23 Aug 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Khlynov. 2‑1 against Avangard, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Evgeni Alexandrov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Jul 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 Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Jul 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Miass they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ufa have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan move for Ilja Tikhomirov is in the works
Torpedo Miass have made the call to Spartak Tambov. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad5 Jul 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 Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.