Marked for Igor Belyakov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 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 Volna can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 22 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Pavel Gorelov 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 ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Oct 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; Volna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Gorelov, and the manager let it.
Match23 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
5.11 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Market25 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Sep 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.
Squad27 Sep 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A performance of 9.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad27 Sep 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Three points for Volna, 1‑0 the final word against Amkar in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Rasul Gystarov 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 Rasul Gystarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Sep 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Ivan Ananjev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Volna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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 ratings20 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Popovich, and the manager let it.
Match18 Sep 2027
It needed Pavel Gorelov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rubin 2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Ivan Migunov 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 Volna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Sep 2027
The name of Ivan Severjanov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Volna say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Aug 2027
Every point is an argument now for Volna
Position 10 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market30 Aug 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
Kuban come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Volna did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Pavel Gorelov 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 ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gocha Gogrichiani, and the manager let it.
Match28 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market30 Aug 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A mark of 5.28 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Pavel Gorelov 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Volna come up short against Nosta
Nosta left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
Volna counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Volna now.
Market16 Aug 2027
Volna and Deklan Reid are talking past each other
“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.
Market16 Aug 2027
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
5.37 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The name of Arseny Yagodkin has come up in conversations Volna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Migunov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Wages eat 105% of everything Volna 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market9 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
5.61 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Volna may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Volna
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Abramov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A mark of 7.53, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Dmitry Rebrov 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 Volna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 52 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market19 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 Volna can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market19 Jul 2027
As if he never left: Nazar Guryev returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nazar Guryev is a Volna player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market19 Jul 2027
The shirt still fits. Evgeniy Fedorov is back at Volna, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Pavel Gorelov 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 ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Volna had the best player on the pitch.
In brief
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Boardroom
Volna counting the cost
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Match
Point won or two lost for Volna?
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Player ratings
A day to forget for Igor Belyakov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 May 2027
Volna are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 36 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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
“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; Volna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 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.
Squad17 May 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 May 2027
142% 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“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.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad17 May 2027
Lyle Chatburn is starting to look at home
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 May 2027
Volna up to position 2
36 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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.
Squad3 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Apr 2027
Volna up to position 2
36 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad5 Apr 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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 Volna know it.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I watch every Volna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Saturn runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Volna will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kamil Ibragimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Mar 2027
Volna refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad8 Mar 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.
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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Feb 2027
Volna refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cahya Supriadi and Volna agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Volna
Mikhail Zabotkin 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
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 24 days on the sidelines for Igor Belyakov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikolay Kostadinov and Volna agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Nov 2026
Volna are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 24 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match7 Nov 2026
Volna cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad9 Nov 2026
52 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gocha Gogrichiani. 3‑2 against KDV Tomsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.98 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Erik Gubiev
“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
Match12 Oct 2026
Volna are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 15 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match10 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Volna
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Volna did not have in the autumn.
Market12 Oct 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 Volna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
81 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Volna
Rasul Gystarov 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 9.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match10 Oct 2026
Volna get the job done against Nosta
A 2‑0 win over Nosta, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 109 days on the sidelines for Igor Belyakov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Volna
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Volna are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 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 Volna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Volna do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
139 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Volna
Dmitry Rebrov 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alan Fernando Gutierrez and Volna agree another 3 years.
Market17 Aug 2026
Legion paid $7.0K and Volna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 9.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Volna, 1‑0 the final word against Uralets-TS in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Igor Belyakov
“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
Market3 Aug 2026
Artem Abramov 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.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 4 of the 20 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Abramov and Volna agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Volna
Artem Abramov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Alexey Titkov again, and this time the name on the line is Zvezda. Volna are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match1 Aug 2026
Orenburg 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Rebrov, and the manager let it.