Torpedo Miass interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Zakhar Raspopin keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
The deal with Chernomorets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan and Torpedo Miass agree another 4 years.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Torpedo Miass asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2029
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.
18 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
39 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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with Nart, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Stepan Obryvkov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Torpedo Miass asked and Sokol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Jul 2029
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Everything agreed with CSKA Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
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.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Nikita Khlynov’s negotiating for him
The dugoutDmitry Pavlov asks for a word with the manager
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaly Tsikishev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad28 May 2029
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
This is not rotation. Dmitry Kuzmin has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
Zakhar Podzolkov 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.
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.
“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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Torpedo Miass could ask drops and the wages Nikita Khlynov can ask rise.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 May 2029
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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Evgeny Ibragimov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Torpedo Miass have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
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 Semyon Stolbov is on it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Tikhon Filatov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Torpedo Miass dressing room was either.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Khlynov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Roman Kovalev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Karen Arakelyan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Tikhon Filatov could afford to be generous.
26 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vitaly Tsikishev has agreed terms with Spartak Kostroma for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Torpedo Miass asked and Textilschik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Roman Kovalev 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 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Torpedo Miass, another week without a signature from Nikita Khlynov.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“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.
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 7.58 for the rest of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with CSKA Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Roman Kovalev 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.
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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 Semyon Stolbov is on it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Roman Kovalev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Tikhon Filatov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Torpedo Miass dressing room was either.
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.
This is not rotation. Alexey Larin has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Roman Kovalev 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
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 Semyon Stolbov is on it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Tikhon Filatov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Torpedo Miass dressing room was either.
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 7.96 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Half the programme played, position 4, 36 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tikhon Filatov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Angusht will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo Miass were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
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.
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
Marked 6.69 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Zakhar Podzolkov 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 dugout6 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Tikhon Filatov to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Semyon Stolbov
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 7.52 for the rest of it.
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
At 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kacper Błaszkiewicz. 2‑0 against Legion, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tikhon Filatov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
“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 dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Evgeny Ibragimov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Roman Kovalev 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
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 Semyon Stolbov is on it.
“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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Gabriele Rufini's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zarya Lugansk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with Metallurg is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Irkutsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with Dinamo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
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.
Marked 7.99. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Textilschik have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriele Rufini has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Add another name to the list: Kuban have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan. The answer from Torpedo Miass has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zarya Lugansk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Mashuk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Irtysh have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Pikulik has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
242 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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 Aug 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Semyon Cherepanov and Torpedo Miass agree another 3 years.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Torpedo Miass, another week without a signature from Nikita Khlynov.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 97% of everything Torpedo Miass earn
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alexey Larin scored in the 86th minute, Rubin Yalta had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Torpedo Miass took the lot.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mashuk have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ryazan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Add another name to the list: Kuban have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan. The answer from Torpedo Miass has not changed — yet.
10 combined actions and 7.25. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Miass have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Nikolai Sidorenko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gleb Mikheev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Khlynov. 1‑0 against Pobeda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
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.
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
“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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikita Khlynov signs something — a contract at Torpedo Miass or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Torpedo Miass
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with Volna, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
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.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“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.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
The deal with Alania is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vyacheslav Bezzubov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
140% 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.
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 Semyon Stolbov is on it.
“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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikita Khlynov signs something — a contract at Torpedo Miass or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Torpedo Miass
This is not rotation. Grigory Borisenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Maxim Tarasov 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Evgeny Ibragimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Pikulik signs something — a contract at Torpedo Miass or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Squad22 May 2028
Roman Kovalev 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Evgeny Ibragimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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.
Nikita Khlynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Miass told Alexey Larin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Torpedo Miass would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
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.
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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Nobody arrives at Torpedo Miass 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 Miass this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Larin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
32 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.
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.
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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmitry Pavlov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torpedo Miass.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Tikhon Filatov, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Alexey Larin
The dugoutNikita Khlynov asks for a word with the manager
39 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Pikulik has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tikhon Filatov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Semyon Stolbov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
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.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Rubin Yalta; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alexey Larin
Dominik Pikulik, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.41
A mark of 9.41 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veles have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Torpedo Miass. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Dominik Pikulik, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.08
A mark of 9.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Position 3, 54 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.
“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.
1 for Alexandr Balakhonov, marked 7.74, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Everything agreed with Uralets-TS, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
7 goals in one match, Dominik Pikulik on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Torpedo Miass and Zarya Lugansk.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
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.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
At 23 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.
Maksym Hudak 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Tikhon Filatov could afford to be generous.
This is not rotation. Grigory Borisenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Torpedo Miass who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Maxim Tarasov 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
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 0‑2 Tikhon Filatov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
“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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
114% 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad20 Dec 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
20 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Dominik Pikulik, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad13 Dec 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dominik Pikulik. 1‑0 against Neftyanik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Miass lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 for Dmitry Pavlov, marked 7.52, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
162% 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Miass lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Nov 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tikhon Filatov could afford to be generous.
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.
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.
Squad8 Nov 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.
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Roman Kovalev
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Roman Kovalev has come out of that comparison in the side, and Torpedo Miass have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan has his answer from Torpedo Miass; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Kovalev 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tikhon Filatov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Roman Kovalev 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.
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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
This is not rotation. Grigory Borisenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 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.
“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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Pikulik signs something — a contract at Torpedo Miass or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Miass lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tikhon Filatov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Torpedo Miass lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Dmitry Kuzmin delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dmitry Kuzmin scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Kuzmin. 3‑1 against Zarya Lugansk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Squad20 Sep 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.