From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market2 Nov 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 Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.92 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nikita Kolganov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at Torpedo Vladimir
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 terraces2 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Danil Sobolev: 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 Vladimir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Simakov, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Tver came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 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 Vladimir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Oct 2026
An average of 7.17 in a first team he is several years too young for. Torpedo Vladimir have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sergey Chernenko 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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Rodina M to sit and watch. I want to come back to Torpedo Vladimir and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Artem Dudarev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alexandr Vyaznikov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Torpedo Vladimir needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market19 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alimkhan Alimkhanov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Alexandr Komissarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Nikita Kolganov 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Dinamo Vologda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rodina M runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Maxim Vafiev gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Oct 2026
10 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Alexei Golovin left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Artem Dudarev 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 208% of everything Torpedo Vladimir 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Torpedo Vladimir who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alexei Golovin after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.07 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Komissarov. 1‑0 against Baltika 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Korenblyum 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Zharov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Alexei Golovin, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad28 Sep 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Alexandr Komissarov has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
Alimkhan Alimkhanov wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Alimkhan Alimkhanov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Kosmos went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexandr Komissarov did not need any: 8.48, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
An average of 7.07 in a first team he is several years too young for. Torpedo Vladimir have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad21 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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Torpedo Vladimir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rodina M runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Dudarev 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
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Alexandr Komissarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kolganov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luka Obukhov 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Sep 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Yenisey 2 scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad14 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 Vladimir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.95 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Chernenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexei Golovin on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Irkutsk spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.83 for the rest of it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Kosmos for Ivan Nesterov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Denis Arslanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexei Golovin on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
0‑2 against Kosmos, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Kolganov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Aug 2026
Saturn left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Danil Sobolev 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Kostryukov, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Alimkhan Alimkhanov takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alimkhan Alimkhanov provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Druzhba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Vladimir is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Stanislav Utkin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Kolomna made Torpedo Vladimir work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Chernenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.17 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Saturn have kept their man, and Torpedo Vladimir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentin Blokhin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. German Dolgikh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikita Ibragimov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Alimkhan Alimkhanov had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Zenit 2 were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Maxim Vafiev
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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexandr Komissarov did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stanislav Utkin and Torpedo Vladimir agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.78 beside his name.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Stanislav Utkin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match1 Aug 2026
2‑3 to Zenit 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nikita Kolganov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Ivan Nesterov has come up in conversations Torpedo Vladimir were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.