From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑7 to Dinamo Vologda, 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Pobeda 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Saturn had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Vologda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Saturn
Maxim Kunskiy 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Saturn and Dinamo Vologda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Kostroma have kept their man, and Saturn go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Semyon Bobrov
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Beaten 6 times: a bad day for Alil Magomedov
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Saturn march on in the cup
Rodina M are out and Saturn go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match22 Aug 2026
No mercy from Saturn
Torpedo Vladimir will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Saturn were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match19 Aug 2026
Gevork Sarkisyan wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Gevork Sarkisyan found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Rodina M went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.03, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Vilgelm will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saturn the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match22 Aug 2026
Saturn make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Saturn have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Saturn
Vladislav Tyurin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
Saturn say no — this time
The offer from Paide for Gevork Sarkisyan 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.
Squad17 Aug 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 Saturn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chertanovo have kept their man, and Saturn go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Saturn
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Sedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Vladislav Tyurin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Saturn.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market17 Aug 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexandr Pegov on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Saturn people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Saturn
Vladislav Tyurin 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Cherepovets will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kirill Kulkov has pre-agreed a move to Saturn, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 20 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentin Shubin 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. Yuri Shapovalov 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Innokentiy Bragin 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Saturn rescue it on 96 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 96. Kosmos had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad10 Aug 2026
No place for Nikita Rozhkov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Saturn are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Maxim Sedov pops up at the right end — 7.80
7.80, 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maxim Sedov and Saturn agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Saturn
Vladislav Tyurin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Saturn and Yenisey 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Kunskiy. 4‑2 against Yenisey 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Nosta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladislav Vilgelm. The answer from Saturn has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metallurg have kept their man, and Saturn go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Saturn
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Sedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.