Marked for Aqşin Paşayev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astrakhan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 2028
76 days out for Fedor Semenov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Astrakhan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Astrakhan asked and Khimik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Aqşin Paşayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Jun 2028
The name of Ivan Kudryashov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Astrakhan say nothing, which says plenty.
Market26 Jun 2028
Astrakhan have made Dmitry Shilov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Astrakhan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Krylya Sovetov will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Artem Serebryakov has pre-agreed a move to Astrakhan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Astrakhan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yelisey Krivokhizhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Astrakhan are $3.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Vyacheslav Mitrokhin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Wages eat 99% of everything Astrakhan 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 dugout12 Jun 2028
Dmitry Shilov 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 Shilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 May 2028
“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.
The dugout15 May 2028
This is not rotation. Rasul Zhangurazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Astrakhan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom15 May 2028
The borrowing at Astrakhan reaches $3.4M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 116% of the Astrakhan 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words exchanged at Astrakhan
Mandla Vilakazi 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 dugout15 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentin Grishin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 May 2028
No place for Aqşin Paşayev in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Astrakhan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market15 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valentin Grishin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market15 May 2028
Astrakhan have made Semyon Radostev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 May 2028
“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.
The dugout8 May 2028
Alexandr Bolonin: 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.” Astrakhan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Astrakhan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Bolonin and Astrakhan agree another 2 years.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The owner puts $83.3K into Astrakhan
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Astrakhan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rasul Zhangurazov 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Danil Sizov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Astrakhan are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout8 May 2028
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
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shahdag Qusar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 Nov 2027
Out, 0‑1 to Neftchi, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market22 Nov 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 Shahdag Qusar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Guilherme Boer 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Three points for Shahdag Qusar, 1‑0 the final word against Zagatala in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Hüseyn Əliyev
“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 ratings22 Nov 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 7.85. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Dudu Figueiredo gets picked when it counts
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Squad
Words at Shahdag Qusar training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Nov 2027
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shahdag Qusar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Shahdag Qusar can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Aqşin Paşayev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shahdag Qusar is pretending otherwise.
Match6 Nov 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Shahdag Qusar have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad8 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 Shahdag Qusar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The owner puts $160.4K into Shahdag Qusar
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hüseyin Mürsəlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Nov 2027
A 1‑0 win over Jabrayil, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.98 on the card, and the Shahdag Qusar support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shahdag Qusar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The mood at Shahdag Qusar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market11 Oct 2027
Aqşin Paşayev 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 Shahdag Qusar can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Aqşin Paşayev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shahdag Qusar is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Debu wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Shahdag Qusar know it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Kamil Hüseynov 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Shahdag Qusar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cavanşir Şahbazli 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Shahdag Qusar money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nihad Qurbanlı
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shahdag Qusar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
Anger at Shahdag Qusar spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market13 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Shahdag Qusar's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shahdag Qusar has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Aqşin Paşayev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shahdag Qusar is pretending otherwise.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shahdag Qusar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match11 Sep 2027
5 matches without a goal for Shahdag Qusar
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad13 Sep 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 Shahdag Qusar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Everybody at Shahdag Qusar saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 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 Shahdag Qusar can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Sabah, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Guilherme Boer 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 targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zira have kept their man, and Shahdag Qusar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hüseyin Mürsəlov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Dudu Figueiredo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shahdag Qusar 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Kamil Hüseynov 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 Shahdag Qusar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dudu Figueiredo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clock does Aqşin Paşayev’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Shahdag Qusar could ask drops and the wages Aqşin Paşayev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jun 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 Shahdag Qusar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The deal with Araz-Nakhchivan is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad28 Jun 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 Shahdag Qusar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Everybody at Shahdag Qusar saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gabala have kept their man, and Shahdag Qusar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cavanşir Şahbazli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jun 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Shahdag Qusar told Fərid Kərimzadə something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout28 Jun 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 Dudu Figueiredo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Shahdag Qusar board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Shahdag Qusar
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 May 2027
A fracture rules Famil Camalov out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shahdag Qusar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Əsədulla Heydərov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Joni Montiel 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 dugout24 May 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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 May 2027
30 days out for Famil Camalov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shahdag Qusar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 May 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 Shahdag Qusar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
João Gabriel 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 Shahdag Qusar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cavanşir Şahbazli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages swallow 192% of the Shahdag Qusar 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 dugout17 May 2027
Əsədulla Heydərov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shahdag Qusar 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.
The dugout17 May 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 Shahdag Qusar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 May 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 Maqsud Ələkbərov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Ülvi İbazadə out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shahdag Qusar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Kamil Hüseynov 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Joni Montiel 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
Wages swallow 324% of the Shahdag Qusar 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 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
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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Dudu Figueiredo 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Əsədulla Heydərov signs something — a contract at Shahdag Qusar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Ülvi İbazadə out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shahdag Qusar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 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 Shahdag Qusar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 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 Shahdag Qusar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cavanşir Şahbazli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages swallow 358% of the Shahdag Qusar 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
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Shahdag Qusar will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Əsədulla Heydərov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shahdag Qusar 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Kamil Hüseynov 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
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ülvi İbazadə breaks a bone — 120 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
Aqşin Paşayev 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 Shahdag Qusar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 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 Shahdag Qusar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Joni Montiel 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sumgayit have kept their man, and Shahdag Qusar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 328% of the Shahdag Qusar 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 dugout25 Jan 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 Jan 2027
Əsədulla Heydərov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shahdag Qusar 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.
The dugout25 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 Shahdag Qusar, and both men came out saying it was fine.