Marked for Mardonjon Meliyev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match18 Mar 2028
The wait goes on for Shortan
6 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“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 ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shohruh Eshbo'tayev signs something — a contract at Shortan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Mar 2028
The clock does Nuriddin Xasanov’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Shortan could ask drops and the wages Nuriddin Xasanov can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Dec 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 Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 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.
Squad6 Dec 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 Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Doniyor Narzullayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market6 Dec 2027
Still no offer on the table, and Fazliddin Karamatov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
A bad afternoon for Shortan against Nasaf
0‑1 to Nasaf, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
101% of the income goes out in wages at Shortan
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad19 Apr 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 Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 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 Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shortan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Questions about Diyorbek Haliyev on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mardonjon Meliyev and Shortan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nuriddin Xasanov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 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 Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shortan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market4 Jan 2027
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A new face in his position, and Shohruh Eshbo'tayev suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Shortan have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market4 Jan 2027
No fee and no drama: Mardonjon Meliyev has signed at Shortan, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
Market4 Jan 2027
No fee and no fanfare: Mirkomil Abdurazzoqov’s time at Shortan ends with a handshake, and Bunyodkor collect a player for the price of his wages. Somebody will call it shrewd; time will name who.