Marked for Yoqubjon Qodirov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 terraces24 Mar 2036
At 22 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.
Match22 Mar 2036
Obod get the job done against Mashal
A 2‑0 win over Mashal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faisal Abdulrahman, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.90 on the card, and the Obod support went home talking about one name.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Al-Zahri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad24 Mar 2036
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
Somebody else is better right now than Yoqubjon Qodirov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Feb 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nodir Fayzullaev
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Feb 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bunyodkor keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market11 Feb 2036
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Hamzaxon Xo'jayev is a Obod player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad11 Feb 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom11 Feb 2036
Pakhtakor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Otabek Fayzullaev has pre-agreed a move to Obod, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
Obod ran out of time with Andijon. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Market11 Feb 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Obod, another week without a signature from Baktiyor Tagybergen.
Squad11 Feb 2036
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Al-Zahri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jan 2036
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jan 2036
Aziz Ganiev 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
The clubs have shaken hands with Andijon; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Aziz Ganiev 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
“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.
Market28 Jan 2036
Obod have made Faisal Abdulrahman available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market28 Jan 2036
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad28 Jan 2036
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2036
Nodir Fayzullaev damages knee ligaments — 69 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Market14 Jan 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Obod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
Obod have gone to Andijon with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nasaf have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words exchanged at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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 dugout14 Jan 2036
“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.
Market14 Jan 2036
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Al-Zahri 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Dec 2035
Nodir Fayzullaev damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Market31 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Obod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Squad31 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Al-Zahri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Obod. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market31 Dec 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Dec 2035
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 Dec 2035
A falling-out at Obod
Aziz Ganiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Al-Zahri 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 dugout10 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammad Ubaydullayev, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
Nodir Fayzullaev 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.
Market10 Dec 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Diyor Rahmatullayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
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 Baktiyor Tagybergen has written the date down.
Market10 Dec 2035
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Eldor Akhmedov leaves Obod the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
The Obod production line keeps running
80 graduates out of an academy now rated 3 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Dec 2035
Nodir Fayzullaev damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Market3 Dec 2035
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Dec 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muhammad Ubaydullayev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Obod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dias Orynbasar and Obod agree another 2 years.
The dugout3 Dec 2035
The manager makes Timur Ahmedov a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Obod. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2035
Nodir Fayzullaev damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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.
Market26 Nov 2035
Aziz Ganiev 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Tempers go at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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 dugout26 Nov 2035
Sultan Obaid gets it from the manager
“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.
Market26 Nov 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Obod. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2035
125 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Nov 2035
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Nov 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jasurbek Ubaydullayev has just signed for Obod, and for once the answer mattered.
Market19 Nov 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nodir Mirzaev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market19 Nov 2035
One of our own: Jasur Ganiev joins the Obod first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jasur Ganiev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Nov 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mirzo Ganiev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market19 Nov 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Farhod Abdullaev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
No sign of nerves from Timur Ahmedov at 21 — 7.84
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timur Ahmedov did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asilbek No'monov, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Time is catching up with Saša Domić
Everybody at Obod saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 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.
Match22 Sep 2035
Obod caught on 86 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Qizilqum scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match22 Sep 2035
It needed Al-Zahri to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Qizilqum, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad24 Sep 2035
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jasur Akhmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
Yoqubjon Qodirov 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
Steady
Squad10 Sep 2035
Sahob Rashidov damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Obod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Sep 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timur Ahmedov and Obod agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Al-Zahri gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Al-Zahri has just signed for Obod, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
Obod offered $29.0K; Pakhtakor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
The clock did what Lokomotiv would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“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.
Market10 Sep 2035
Obod and Odil Nematov are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Aug 2035
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings6 Aug 2035
Renat Nazarov, 21, steals the show — 7.91
Marked 7.91 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Fee done, terms next for Ädilet Ömei
Obod and Navbahor have settled on $300.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad6 Aug 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nodir Fayzullaev and Obod agree another 2 years.
The terraces6 Aug 2035
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match4 Aug 2035
Sogdiana made Obod work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad6 Aug 2035
27 games in 70 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
The dugout6 Aug 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nodir Fayzullaev, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Aug 2035
A place in the month's best eleven for Jaloliddin Hasanov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jaloliddin Hasanov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Obod have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Dinis Freitas asks for a word with the manager
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Player ratings
Yoqubjon Qodirov runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sahob Rashidov
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market23 Jul 2035
“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.
Market23 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mashal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
The offer went to AGMK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
AGMK wanted more than $13.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad23 Jul 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Obod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match21 Jul 2035
Metallurg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jul 2035
Sahob Rashidov damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Match7 Jul 2035
5‑2, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad9 Jul 2035
The match ball belongs to Yoqubjon Qodirov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
Renat Nazarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market9 Jul 2035
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.57 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
The deal with Pakhtakor 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.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jaloliddin Hasanov commits to Obod for another 2 years.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
The offer went to Kokand 1912 this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 May 2035
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 May 2035
Tempers go at Obod
Jaloliddin Hasanov 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.
Match5 May 2035
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 May 2035
“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 ratings7 May 2035
Diyor Rahmatullayev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings7 May 2035
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match5 May 2035
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Diyor Rahmatullayev had Obod level again within 2 minutes, and Bunyodkor never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad7 May 2035
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad7 May 2035
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Obod who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Apr 2035
Farhod Ahmedov damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Apr 2035
Obod get the job done against Nasaf
A 1‑0 win over Nasaf, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Apr 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“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 dugout16 Apr 2035
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.
Looking ahead16 Apr 2035
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Islomjon Xasanov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Obod needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Apr 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diyor Rahmatullayev signs something — a contract at Obod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Apr 2035
The small margins put Obod out
Out, 1‑2 to Navbahor, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match7 Apr 2035
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Diyor Rahmatullayev decided nobody was going anywhere. Metallurg had no time left to answer.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yoqubjon Qodirov and Obod agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Renat Nazarov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.82
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.82, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The terraces9 Apr 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marat Islamkhan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match7 Apr 2035
Metallurg made Obod work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
Aziz Ganiev gets it from the manager
“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
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2035
A fracture rules Nodir Fayzullaev out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yoqubjon Qodirov commits to Obod for another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Aziz Ganiev 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Apr 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Timur Ahmedov 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.
Market2 Apr 2035
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bekzod Hamidov has his answer from Obod; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
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 Yoqubjon Qodirov has written the date down.
Market2 Apr 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Obod keep producing them
-
Looking ahead
Home comforts ahead for Obod
-
The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Diyor Rahmatullayev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Mar 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces12 Mar 2035
The mood at Obod 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
Obod still without a manager
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yoqubjon Qodirov, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match10 Mar 2035
Point won or two lost for Obod?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Pakhtakor? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead12 Mar 2035
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Shohjahon Abdumannonov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Obod needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market12 Mar 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Feb 2035
A fracture rules Nodir Fayzullaev out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Feb 2035
Dinis Freitas 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Shohruh Abdullaev 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 dugout19 Feb 2035
Shohruh Abdullaev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Obod 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 dugout19 Feb 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yerkebulan Taykenov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Feb 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diyor Rahmatullayev signs something — a contract at Obod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market19 Feb 2035
Obod have let the market know Yerkebulan Taykenov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Feb 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom12 Feb 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Obod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces12 Feb 2035
Anger at Obod 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Tempers go at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Shohruh Abdullaev 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 dugout12 Feb 2035
“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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sultan Obaid and Obod agree another 3 years.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
Nobody at Obod 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 dugout12 Feb 2035
Dinis Freitas 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 Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jan 2035
101 days out for Nodir Fayzullaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
The clubs have shaken hands with Navbahor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
This is not rotation. Dinis Freitas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Jan 2035
A falling-out at Obod
Jaloliddin Hasanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Shohruh Abdullaev 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 targets29 Jan 2035
Andijon 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 targets29 Jan 2035
A loan enquiry to Qizilqum: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
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
Uneasy
Squad22 Jan 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Jan 2035
“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 Jan 2035
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shohruh Abdullaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2035
Bunyodkor 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 targets22 Jan 2035
Obod have made the call to Andijon. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2035
Pakhtakor 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.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
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 Shohruh Abdullaev is on it.
Market22 Jan 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diyor Rahmatullayev signs something — a contract at Obod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Obod. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jan 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom15 Jan 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
The terraces15 Jan 2035
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Market15 Jan 2035
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Jan 2035
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Obod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Obod asked and Bukhara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Jan 2035
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dinis Freitas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Jan 2035
“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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Sogdiana 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Dec 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces18 Dec 2034
The mood at Obod 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.
Boardroom18 Dec 2034
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shohruh Abdullaev 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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Aziz Ganiev 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Dec 2034
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Farhod Ahmedov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market18 Dec 2034
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jaloliddin Ganiev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market18 Dec 2034
One of our own: Otabek Komilov joins the Obod first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Otabek Komilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market18 Dec 2034
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mirzo Suyunov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Dec 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Dec 2034
“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 dugout11 Dec 2034
This is not rotation. Nodir Fayzullaev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Tempers go at Obod
Jaloliddin Hasanov 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.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shohruh Abdullaev 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 dugout11 Dec 2034
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.
Market11 Dec 2034
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
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 Yoqubjon Qodirov has written the date down.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
“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.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Obod keep producing them
-
Match
A season winding down at Obod
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2034
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Dec 2034
“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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
The Obod board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
This is not rotation. Dinis Freitas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Dec 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaloliddin Hasanov and Obod agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Dinis Freitas 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 dugout4 Dec 2034
Islomjon Xasanov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Islomjon Xasanov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
Norbert Bese gets picked when it counts
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 Norbert Bese is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2034
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islomjon Xasanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
Timur Ahmedov gets picked when it counts
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 Timur Ahmedov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2034
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces20 Nov 2034
The mood at Obod 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.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
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 dugout20 Nov 2034
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yerkebulan Taykenov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Obod. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Nov 2034
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Nov 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Nov 2034
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Obod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Tempers go at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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 dugout13 Nov 2034
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 dugout13 Nov 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market13 Nov 2034
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Boardroom13 Nov 2034
The Obod academy earns its keep
66 graduates, from a department now rated 3 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Oct 2034
A falling-out at Obod
Aziz Ganiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islomjon Xasanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
Dinis Freitas 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
Uneasy
The terraces23 Oct 2034
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Boardroom23 Oct 2034
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Obod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad23 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
Shohruh Abdullaev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Obod 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 dugout23 Oct 2034
“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 dugout23 Oct 2034
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 Yoqubjon Qodirov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2034
“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 Oct 2034
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shohruh Abdullaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
“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 dugout16 Oct 2034
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.
Market16 Oct 2034
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Obod. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market16 Oct 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Obod, another week without a signature from Mirsaid Tursunmatov.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
“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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2034
Obod keep producing them
66 graduates from an academy now rated 3 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Oct 2034
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Obod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Player ratings2 Oct 2034
Timur Ahmedov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.88
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.88, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match30 Sep 2034
A bad afternoon for Obod against Andijon
0‑1 to Andijon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Time is catching up with Saša Domić
Everybody at Obod 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.
The dugout2 Oct 2034
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market2 Oct 2034
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Obod has been clear about where Eldor Shomurodov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout2 Oct 2034
“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 dugout2 Oct 2034
Yoqubjon Qodirov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Yoqubjon Qodirov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Sep 2034
Dinis Freitas 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Sep 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yoqubjon Qodirov and Obod agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2034
“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 Obod know it.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
The clock did what Navbahor would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Market11 Sep 2034
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
Wages swallow 86% of the Obod 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 dugout11 Sep 2034
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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Words exchanged at Obod
Aziz Ganiev 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 dugout11 Sep 2034
Dinis Freitas 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 Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Obod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Sep 2034
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Sep 2034
A move Yoqubjon Qodirov would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yoqubjon Qodirov is living that version at Obod, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match2 Sep 2034
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Window shuts: 13 in, 16 out at Obod
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad4 Sep 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diyor Rahmatullayev commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Match2 Sep 2034
The goals have deserted Obod
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Market4 Sep 2034
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad4 Sep 2034
A falling-out at Obod
Jaloliddin Hasanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.