Marked for Lev Laptev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout11 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Jun 2029
Konstantin Popov 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Makar Pestov 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 dugout11 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Denis Arslanov
“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.
Market11 Jun 2029
The Maxim Vafiev talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Vladimir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Lev Laptev keeps his manager's vote
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Lev Laptev plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
Mark Rybakov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Torpedo Vladimir can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces7 May 2029
Supporters organise against the Torpedo Vladimir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The dugout7 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Makar Pestov 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Lev Laptev 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 dugout7 May 2029
Leon Aiba gets it from the manager
“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.
Market7 May 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Torpedo Vladimir, another week without a signature from Denis Arslanov.
The dugout7 May 2029
The manager's exit leaves Denis Prusakov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Denis Prusakov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Market7 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Vladimir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Mar 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Vladimir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Makar Pestov 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Lev Laptev 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 Torpedo Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Mar 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Feb 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Vladimir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Torpedo Vladimir
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Kirill Makarov 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Makar Pestov 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 dugout5 Feb 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Nobody arrives at Torpedo Vladimir until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Torpedo Vladimir this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Vladimir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Jan 2029
The season ends: position 10 for Torpedo Vladimir
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 29 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Torpedo Vladimir's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Torpedo Vladimir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Konstantin 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lev Laptev and Torpedo Vladimir agree another 3 years.
Match6 Jan 2029
0‑1 to Cherepovets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
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The dugout8 Jan 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from Ilya Lyubimov at 16 — 8.29
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ilya Lyubimov did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A season average of 7.32 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Makar Pestov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Denis Arslanov 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Torpedo Vladimir know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match30 Sep 2028
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Torpedo Vladimir are no longer polite ones.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Oct 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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match30 Sep 2028
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Makar Pestov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mark Rybakov after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.