The Zira Herald
Match5 Feb 2029
Zira refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Eldar Kuliev keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zira may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Zira
Issa Djibrilla 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The numbers do not look good at Zira
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.
Loan watch5 Feb 2029
Javid Nazarov has seen enough of Gabala
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zira, and 0 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Market5 Feb 2029
A long bet from Zira on Oleksandr Shcherbakov
He is 19, and nobody at Zira signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market5 Feb 2029
Zira buy the years ahead of Artem Stepko
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Ceyhun Nuriyev loses the armband
The captaincy has been taken off Ceyhun Nuriyev. Zira will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad5 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Davide Moisa
“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
- Market Zira bring in an old head
- Market The Brahim Konaté question follows Zira around