Marked for Albert Nurullayev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Aug 2029
Beaten 1‑4 by Lokomotiv, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match11 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for Bukhara
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Up for the corner, and Javohir Ro'ziyev delivers — 7.84
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Javohir Ro'ziyev scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Bukhara
Shirinboy Abdullayev 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.
Transfer targets13 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Doniyor Ahmedov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Doniyor Ahmedov has, at Bukhara, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Bojan Mlađović 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.
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Otabek Suyunov, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Bojan Mlađović out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bukhara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Bukhara
Vladimir Rodić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Feb 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 Bojan Mlađović is on it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Bukhara
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Nurullayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market26 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Asadbek Jo'raboyev signs something — a contract at Bukhara or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bukhara, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2029
68 days out for Bojan Mlađović after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bukhara will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Pressure builds in the Bukhara boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market15 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 Bukhara can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Vladimir Rodić 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 targets15 Jan 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Suhrobjon Sultonov commits to Bukhara for another 1 years.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Bukhara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Nurullayev 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 dugout15 Jan 2029
“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 dugout15 Jan 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bukhara told Sherzod Komilov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Bojan Mlađović out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bukhara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad25 Dec 2028
Bojan Mlađović 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad25 Dec 2028
Albert Nurullayev 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
“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
Crisis
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bukhara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Bukhara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bojan Mlađović 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Albert Nurullayev 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shohruhbek Yoqubjonov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Bukhara
Vladimir Rodić 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 Oct 2028
Bojan Mlađović 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Albert Nurullayev and Bukhara agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Market16 Oct 2028
The name of Sherzod Esanov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Bukhara say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibroxim Numonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.