From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Volga
Kirill Folmer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Volga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamil 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kamil Ibragimov
“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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.73 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Volga had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Volga 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Volga have let the market know Kirill Folmer can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Match15 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for Volga?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rotor? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Volga
Kirill Folmer 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Kamil 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.
Transfer targets10 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Fakel take the points off Volga
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Evgeny Burov 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stepan Serov 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. Yegor Plotnikov 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.
The dugout10 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
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
14 seasons and 287 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Saplinov and Volga agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Volga
Kamil Ibragimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Volga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Folmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Aug 2026
Late, late show earns Volga a point
Minute 87, against Arsenal Tula, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Volga, another week without a signature from Alexandr Saplinov.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Devid Kokoev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Volga has been clear about where Devid Kokoev stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match1 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.