Marked for Sergey Chernenko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.95 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Stanislav Utkin 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 terraces7 Sep 2026
At 21 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Chernenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexei Golovin on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Irkutsk spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Kosmos for Ivan Nesterov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Denis Arslanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexei Golovin on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Alimkhan Alimkhanov takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alimkhan Alimkhanov provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Druzhba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Stanislav Utkin 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Kolomna made Torpedo Vladimir work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Chernenko 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.17 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Saturn have kept their man, and Torpedo Vladimir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 21 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentin Blokhin 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. German Dolgikh 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikita Ibragimov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.