Marked for Danil Sobolev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Irtysh, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 13 in, 13 out at Irtysh
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market10 Sep 2029
Samat Shomko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Everything agreed with Aktobe, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market10 Sep 2029
The deal that would have taken Ivan Migunov to Atyrau has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Irtysh with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Smykov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Aug 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Irtysh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market27 Aug 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Irtysh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
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.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Irtysh have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
A loan move for Matvey Burlakov is in the works
Irtysh have made the call to Ural. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Irtysh have made the call to Kairat. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
Bohdan Sarnavskyi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Aug 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Irtysh people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Irtysh
Saiat Zhūmağali 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Smykov 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
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 Meirambek Qalmyrza is on it.
Market20 Aug 2029
Ivan Migunov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Irtysh has been clear about where Ivan Migunov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saiat Zhūmağali, and the manager let it.
Match20 Aug 2029
Irtysh in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 26 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Irtysh money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Jul 2029
“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.
Market16 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Samat Shomko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samat Shomko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Karim Smykov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bohdan Sarnavskyi, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Sparta Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
A loan move for Mathew Gbomadu is in the works
Irtysh have made the call to Dinamo Tbilisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Nikita Kalugin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
A row about effort at Irtysh
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Match
Irtysh draw a blank against Zhetysu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jun 2029
The match ball belongs to Örken Makhan, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market4 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match2 Jun 2029
A 6‑4 win over Akzhaiyk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match2 Jun 2029
The drought breaks for Irtysh
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Akzhaiyk were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Jun 2029
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Irtysh and Akzhaiyk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces4 Jun 2029
At 17 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Irtysh
Karim Smykov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 May 2029
6 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
The dugout21 May 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 May 2029
Danil Sobolev 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 Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 May 2029
Samat Shomko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match19 May 2029
Irtysh cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad21 May 2029
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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 dugout21 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match21 May 2029
The half-term report on Irtysh
Position 9, 8 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Smykov 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
Squad23 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Saiat Zhūmağali
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market23 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Apr 2029
A goal on 93 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match21 Apr 2029
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Saiat Zhūmağali
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
When it matters, Bohdan Sarnavskyi plays
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
A row about effort at Irtysh