From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Nov 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad22 Nov 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Vinogradov 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
The name of Alexey Larin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Torpedo Miass say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Nov 2027
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Maksim Tsaryov: 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Alexey Larin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Dmitry Kuzmin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Miass, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Arnur Sagalbaev 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Dmitry Kuzmin has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Nov 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 124% 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Makar Makarov
“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 dugout1 Nov 2027
Semyon Stolbov 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Miass told Makar Makarov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Gleb Vinogradov 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alexey Larin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2027
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Alexey Larin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Miass, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market25 Oct 2027
The name of Alexey Larin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Torpedo Miass say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Oct 2027
Position 6, 11 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Alexey Larin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
11 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match16 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Irtysh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Evgeni Alexandrov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Oct 2027
4 matches without a win for Torpedo Miass
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Torpedo Miass are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom11 Oct 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
0‑2 to Avangard, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Evgeni Alexandrov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Sergey Isayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Oct 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Miass may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match2 Oct 2027
Kaluga left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Maxim Tarasov 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 ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
137% 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Kuzmin
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Sep 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikita Khlynov and Torpedo Miass agree another 4 years.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Ibragimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Market27 Sep 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Marked 7.27. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Evgeni Alexandrov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Sep 2027
Position 5, 10 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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Alexey Larin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
11 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Vladivostok have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Evgeni Alexandrov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout20 Sep 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
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The match ball belongs to Nikita Khlynov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market13 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Miass may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 1 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Khlynov. 5‑3 against Dinamo Vladivostok, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom13 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market6 Sep 2027
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The name of Maxim Tarasov has come up in conversations Torpedo Miass were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Torpedo Miass asked and Znamya Truda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages swallow 125% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Alexey Larin named player of the month
The award goes to Alexey Larin, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A brace, and Alexey Larin takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexey Larin provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market30 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match28 Aug 2027
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Chances created: 12. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Match28 Aug 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Irtysh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Aug 2027
Rubin Yalta ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match23 Aug 2027
Position 5, 6 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin has a hand in both — 7.93
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.93, and involved in 3 of his side's goals.
Transfer targets23 Aug 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Khlynov. 2‑1 against Avangard, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin takes the match ball home
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match14 Aug 2027
2 behind and going nowhere, until Alexey Larin decided otherwise. Kaluga had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match14 Aug 2027
It finished 4‑3, and it was Alexey Larin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Torpedo Miass.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.88. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Torpedo Miass now.
Transfer targets16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market9 Aug 2027
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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Murom, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Torpedo Miass and Murom, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arnur Sagalbaev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 45 days on the sidelines for German Lipatov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Kuban left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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 dugout2 Aug 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Evgeni Alexandrov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
8 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with Sevastopol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Arnur Sagalbaev 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 targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Vladivostok have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match24 Jul 2027
0‑1 to Dinamo Vladivostok, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Ibragimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
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 0‑1 Evgeni Alexandrov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Arnur Sagalbaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Torpedo Miass
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$3.0K was the most the club would pay and Leningradets were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Vologda have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market19 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gennady Krasnov 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yefim Solovyov 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gavriil Raspopin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan move for Yegor Plotnikov is in the works
Torpedo Miass have made the call to Mashuk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Torpedo Miass and Spartak Tambov have settled on $38.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages swallow 94% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Timur Pazylov is in the works
Torpedo Miass have made the call to Dinamo Vladivostok. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market12 Jul 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vyacheslav Bezzubov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Evgeni Alexandrov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Jul 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ufa have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan move for Ilja Tikhomirov is in the works
Torpedo Miass have made the call to Spartak Tambov. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad5 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer from Kvant for Alexey Larin 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.
Market28 Jun 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ufa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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 Jun 2027
Vyacheslav Bezzubov has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
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.
Boardroom21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Dmitry Pavlov 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Volna: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
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.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
Market21 Jun 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Grigory Borisenko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Innokentiy Mikhaylov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Jun 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gleb Vinogradov 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 94% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Grigory Borisenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vasily Yakovlev, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
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.
Market7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Vladimir Uljanovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semyon Stolbov, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Jun 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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Arnur Sagalbaev 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Torpedo Miass have made Dmitry Pavlov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market7 Jun 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Maxim Podluzhny arrives at Torpedo Miass with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Torpedo Miass will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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 dugout31 May 2027
Semyon Stolbov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 May 2027
Pressure builds in the Torpedo Miass boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evgeny Ibragimov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Vitaly Tsikishev 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 dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Larin, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 May 2027
95% 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.
Market17 May 2027
Torpedo Miass have let the market know Grigory Borisenko can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market17 May 2027
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.
The dugout17 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nil Shevchenko knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Miass, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad17 May 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Torpedo Miass the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
Dmitry Pavlov 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.
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Maksim Tsaryov 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 dugout10 May 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Alexey Larin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Miass, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Evgeni Alexandrov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad3 May 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Evgeny Ibragimov 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 dugout3 May 2027
Semyon Stolbov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Semyon Stolbov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Match3 May 2027
Position 5, 16 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The dugout3 May 2027
Makar Makarov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Miass, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout3 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Torpedo Miass were not finished after all
Written off a fortnight ago, the squad has closed ranks and answered on the pitch. Something was said behind that door, and so far it is holding.
Squad3 May 2027
Questions about Roman Kovalev on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
16 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Denis Zamyatin 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Grigory Borisenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeni Chizhov
23 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages swallow 89% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
Market19 Apr 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Miass. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
30 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.
Market12 Apr 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Ibragimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Kotelnikov
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
Semyon Stolbov 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 Semyon Stolbov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Apr 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.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
37 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Vladimir Uljanovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Miass told Gelani Khashtyrov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Ivan Kotelnikov 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.
Match5 Apr 2027
Position 5, 16 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout29 Mar 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
Market22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
94% 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Maksim Tsaryov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Alexey Larin 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Miass the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Market15 Mar 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 Arnur Sagalbaev is on it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Makar Makarov 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 Makar Makarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Miass. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Denis Zamyatin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Torpedo Miass ran out of time with Sokol. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Miass told Dmitry Kuzmin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Grigory Borisenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
$142.9K taken back off the Torpedo Miass table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Match8 Mar 2027
Torpedo Miass have something to play for
Position 5 on 16 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Semyon Cherepanov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Mar 2027
The deal that would have taken Grigory Borisenko to Kolomna has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Torpedo Miass with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Torpedo Miass
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Mar 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Torpedo Miass will try again when the window opens; Alania may not be selling by then.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Ibragimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Torpedo Miass now.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 2027
Kvant come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Torpedo Miass did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
$32.0K settles it between the clubs for Zaurbek Ramonov
Alania have accepted the money. What Torpedo Miass do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Spartak Kostroma, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market22 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages swallow 95% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Semyon Stolbov 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 Semyon Stolbov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Feb 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with Dinamo St Petersburg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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 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.
The dugout15 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Nikita Khlynov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Torpedo Miass say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kvant waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Torpedo Miass offered $340.0K; Spartak Kostroma said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A loan move for Roman Torosyan is in the works
Torpedo Miass have made the call to Dinamo St Petersburg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market8 Feb 2027
The shop window has Alexey Larin in it
Torpedo Miass have let the market know Alexey Larin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Alexey Larin 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 Alexey Larin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match8 Feb 2027
Position 5, 16 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Torpedo Miass will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Semyon Cherepanov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zvezda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Miass is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with KAMAZ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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
Words at Torpedo Miass training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaly Tsikishev 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.
Squad1 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Kaluga: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Something was said to Alexey Larin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Torpedo Miass now.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 99% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Dmitry Pavlov 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.
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
Evgeny Ibragimov 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 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Arnur Sagalbaev 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Nikita Khlynov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Torpedo Miass say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Vladimir Uljanovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
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.
Match11 Jan 2027
Torpedo Miass have something to play for
Position 5 on 16 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Squad11 Jan 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Torpedo Miass the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Questions about Arnur Sagalbaev on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Miass can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Alexandr Belyaev: 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Alexandr Balakhonov 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Kotelnikov
“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 dugout4 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Miass. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout28 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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
183% 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
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Miass. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout28 Dec 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
Market21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Vladimir Uljanovskiy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Larin, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Arnur Sagalbaev 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
The name of Nikita Khlynov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Torpedo Miass say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Makar Makarov: 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.
Market14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semyon Stolbov, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Maksim Tsaryov 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Alexey Larin 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.
Match14 Dec 2026
Continental football is in reach for Torpedo Miass
16 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Maxim Tarasov 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 dugout7 Dec 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Semyon Stolbov 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 Semyon Stolbov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 185% 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Denis Zamyatin 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
Evgeny Ibragimov 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 dugout30 Nov 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.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
Dmitry Pavlov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Grigory Borisenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Torpedo Miass have let the market know Grigory Borisenko can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Nikita Khlynov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Torpedo Miass say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Nov 2026
Continental football is in reach for Torpedo Miass
16 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Miass. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Arseniy Fedorov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Evgeny Ibragimov 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 dugout9 Nov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Miass. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 185% of the Torpedo Miass income
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Maksim Tsaryov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Torpedo Miass will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Dmitry Kuzmin 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 Dmitry Kuzmin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Balakhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Torpedo Miass are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Maksim Tsaryov 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Arnur Sagalbaev 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Torpedo Miass have let the market know Grigory Borisenko can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Alexey Larin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nikita Khlynov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Torpedo Miass.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Nikita Khlynov at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torpedo Miass.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Squad19 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Evgeni Alexandrov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Dmitry Pavlov will call it something else in private.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Oct 2026
Position 6, 13 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Miass, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Denis Zamyatin 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Torpedo Miass settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Avangard spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Nikita Khlynov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Kaluga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
242% 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alexandr Balakhonov 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.
Looking ahead5 Oct 2026
Everything rides on Avangard
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Pavlov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
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.
The terraces28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Evgeny Ibragimov 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the Torpedo Miass support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Sep 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.
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Torpedo Miass
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Torpedo Miass are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Torpedo Miass
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rodina 2 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Torpedo Miass ran out of time with Spartak Kostroma. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Evgeni Alexandrov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 17. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
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.
Match14 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Torpedo Miass
Position 6 and 7 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.
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
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Miass have done the hard part with Spartak Kostroma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yuri Konovalov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mark Zaitsev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Sep 2026
Kuban left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 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.
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Torpedo Miass asked and Saturn said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Maksim Tsaryov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Grigory Borisenko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gelani Khashtyrov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Evgeni Alexandrov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Gelani Khashtyrov 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Nalchik have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Roman Kovalev
“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
Too much change too quickly at Torpedo Miass
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.53. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Alexey Larin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Irtysh, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Evgeni Alexandrov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Torpedo Miass dressing room was either.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Torpedo Miass man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Grigory Borisenko was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
Murom go through and Torpedo Miass go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Rodina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Grigory Borisenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.52. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Torpedo Miass, 3‑1 the final word against Avangard in a contest settled by the finer margins.
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
Denis Zamyatin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Grigory Borisenko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Kaluga, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Transfer targets17 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.
The dugout17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Ibragimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Evgeni Alexandrov to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Amir Alizade is in the works
Torpedo Miass have made the call to Sibir. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 14, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gelani Khashtyrov commits to Torpedo Miass for another 3 years.
Squad10 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 Torpedo Miass this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Arnur Sagalbaev gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arnur Sagalbaev has just signed for Torpedo Miass, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volna have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexey Larin 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Evgeni Chizhov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dmitri Melnikov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Squad3 Aug 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Luki-Energiya have kept their man, and Torpedo Miass go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 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.
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vitaly Tsikishev has his answer from Torpedo Miass; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match1 Aug 2026
It needed Alexey Larin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rodina 2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Evgeni Alexandrov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Torpedo Miass dressing room was either.