Marked for Renar Velav
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Apr 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.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
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 dugout30 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Muhammadsafo Fozilov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
14 combined actions and 7.31. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Amir Ismailov gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Amir Ismailov has just signed for Shortan, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tadija Crnojević 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.
Market30 Apr 2029
Amir Ismailov is 19, and Shortan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad30 Apr 2029
5 new faces, and Shortan 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Apr 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Renar Velav is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Tadija Crnojević 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 ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nurmuhammad Abdug'aniyev and Shortan agree another 3 years.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nodirxon Xabibullayev, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Nobody at Shortan 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Belts tighten at Shortan
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2029
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces29 Jan 2029
The mood at Shortan 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shortan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Anvarjon Jo'rayev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Renar Velav is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Shortan asked and AGMK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadija Crnojević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
Pressure builds in the Shortan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Dec 2028
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match18 Dec 2028
Shortan sink to position 15
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market18 Dec 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 Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Dec 2028
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Nodir Ganiev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Iskandar Soliyev has just signed for Shortan, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Nov 2027
The small margins put Sibir out
Out, 0‑3 to Zenit, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
Sibir are taken apart by Zenit — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Market22 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sibir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Renar Velav is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at Sibir
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.
Match20 Nov 2027
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Sibir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Nosov 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Three points for Sibir, 2‑1 the final word against Alania in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibir lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market27 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sibir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Sibir
Maxim Chikanchi 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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Sibir counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sibir now.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Sibir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Redkovich 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.