Marked for Dmitry Kuzmin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Feb 2027
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at CSKA Moscow is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 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 Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Victor Uduebo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market15 Feb 2027
Zarya Lugansk are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Torpedo Miass will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Evgeny Gusakov, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Torpedo Miass would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 Feb 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dmitry Kuzmin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Alexei Timofeyev has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Torpedo Miass can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Feb 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kvant moved on, Grigory Borisenko reports back to Torpedo Miass, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Rostov, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ihor Nekhaev 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 Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Feb 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Nikita Khlynov 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 Nikita Khlynov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Anger at Torpedo Miass spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Torpedo Miass
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
14 days out for Roman Kovalev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Miass will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Miass people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Vladimir Uljanovskiy 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Kvant are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Torpedo Miass will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Dmitry Kuzmin 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Zamyatin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Roman Kovalev out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Miass will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
Dmitry Kuzmin 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 Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nikita Khlynov 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Victor Uduebo 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 115% 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Makar Makarov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
29 days out for Roman Kovalev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Miass will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Torpedo Miass
Position 6 and 15 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.
Squad18 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 Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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 dugout18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Torpedo Miass know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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 Jan 2027
Ihor Nekhaev 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Torpedo Miass will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Roman Kovalev out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Miass will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Torpedo Miass 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Torpedo Miass
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Torpedo Miass had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Roman Kovalev 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Torpedo Miass is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Zabotkin, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Dmitry Kuzmin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Torpedo Miass 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
Squad28 Dec 2026
50 days out for Roman Kovalev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Miass will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Roman Kovalev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
243% 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Victor Uduebo
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Roman Kovalev 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 Roman Kovalev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 57 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Dec 2026
Position 6, 15 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin 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 Dec 2026
Ihor Nekhaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikita Khlynov
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Maxim Tarasov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Roman Kovalev out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Miass will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Vladimir Uljanovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Victor Uduebo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nikita Khlynov 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 Nikita Khlynov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Grigory Borisenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Roman Kovalev out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Miass will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Torpedo Miass 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Ihor Nekhaev: 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.” Torpedo Miass have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Torpedo Miass will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Roman Kovalev out for 79 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Miass will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Nikita Khlynov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Kuzmin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 256% 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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
Squad16 Nov 2026
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 94 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Evgeny Lopatko
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Torpedo Miass will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Roman Kovalev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin 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 dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Radomir Martynov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
101 days out for Roman Kovalev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Miass will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Roman Kovalev 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Kotelnikov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Ihor Nekhaev 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikhail Zabotkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Khlynov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market9 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dmitry Kuzmin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 115 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Oct 2026
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Miass may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 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 Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Torpedo Miass and Avangard, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Torpedo Miass, 4‑2 the final word against Avangard in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin 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
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 122 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑3 to Kaluga, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Torpedo Miass's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Torpedo Miass has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikita Khlynov
“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.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Avangard next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Torpedo Miass dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 129 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Miass may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Victor Uduebo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Alexey Larin 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Grigory Borisenko signs something — a contract at Torpedo Miass or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market12 Oct 2026
Torpedo Miass have let the market know Dmitry Kuzmin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Roman Kovalev out for 136 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Miass will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match30 Sep 2026
0‑3 against Dinamo Moscow, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad5 Oct 2026
7 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.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Match3 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nikita Khlynov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Kuzmin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 338% 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.
The dugout5 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Roman Kovalev breaks a bone — 143 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 143 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Sep 2026
Position 7, 8 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladimir Uljanovskiy provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin goes up and wins it — 7.90
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.90 for the rest of it.
Squad28 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 Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torpedo Miass and Rodina 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Everything rides on Murom
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Torpedo Miass know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout28 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
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
7 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.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: SKA Khabarovsk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market21 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Cherepovets moved on, Yaroslav Tarasov reports back to Torpedo Miass, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Roman Kovalev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Uduebo 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.
Match21 Sep 2026
Position 7, 7 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Miass people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Torpedo Miass 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 targets14 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with SKA Khabarovsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match12 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Dinamo Vladivostok. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Torpedo Miass 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Vladimir Uljanovskiy 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Balakhonov 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
Roman Kovalev 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 Roman Kovalev is on it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Torpedo Miass than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout7 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
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Roman Kovalev decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match19 Aug 2026
Murom are out and Torpedo Miass go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 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 Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Torpedo Miass's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Torpedo Miass has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Torpedo Miass have paid $49.0K for Mikhail Zabotkin, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Vladimir Uljanovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Kuzmin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Aug 2026
A goal on 88 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Volna this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vladimir Uljanovskiy 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Torpedo Miass asked and Dinamo St Petersburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The formation has left Ihor Nekhaev behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Torpedo Miass will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Kirov: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Kaluga leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Dmitry Pavlov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alexei Timofeyev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Torpedo Miass dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roman Kovalev and Torpedo Miass agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Torpedo Miass have gone to Luki-Energiya with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Roman Kovalev 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Kuzmin 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 dugout3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Torpedo Miass are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Roman Kovalev’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Alexei Timofeyev left the room before anybody could ask which.