Marked for Aziz Komilov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Jan 2031
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Qizilqum lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pakhtakor keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Bilolxon Toshmirzayev 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Paparyga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Qizilqum asked and Pakhtakor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market20 Jan 2031
Add another name to the list: Obod have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bobur Ahmedov. The answer from Qizilqum has not changed — yet.
Squad20 Jan 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aziz Komilov commits to Qizilqum for another 3 years.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
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 Roman Paparyga is on it.
Market20 Jan 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Roman Paparyga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Jan 2031
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Jan 2031
15 days out for Jovan Nišić after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotiv will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Jan 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market13 Jan 2031
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Abdulloh Yo'ldoshev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market13 Jan 2031
“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.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Aziz Komilov has agreed terms with Qizilqum for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Quvonchbek Abrayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pakhtakor have kept their man, and Lokomotiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Sunnatilla Poyonov 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
Upbeat
Squad13 Jan 2031
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Qizilqum lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market13 Jan 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Qizilqum have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Qizilqum have done the hard part with Pakhtakor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pakhtakor is saying, and nobody at Qizilqum is enjoying the guessing.
Squad13 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
Qizilqum asked and Navbahor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Aziz Komilov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Qizilqum have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Market13 Jan 2031
He is 19, and nobody at Qizilqum signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Nov 2030
Jovan Nišić 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 Lokomotiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Lokomotiv
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doston Abdulxayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
85% of the income goes out in wages at Lokomotiv
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.
Market4 Nov 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market4 Nov 2030
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Aziz Komilov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lokomotiv.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
Nobody at Lokomotiv 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 dugout4 Nov 2030
Älisher Sulei knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Älisher Sulei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Jul 2030
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Jul 2030
22 goals and a season average of 7.53 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market22 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotiv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market22 Jul 2030
Aziz Komilov 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 Lokomotiv can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nasaf keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Muhammedali Reimov 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.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Lokomotiv asked and Botosani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match20 Jul 2030
A 2‑0 win over Kokand 1912, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Jun 2030
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market3 Jun 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
A brace, and Asadbek Jo'raboyev takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Asadbek Jo'raboyev provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Jun 2030
The name of Muhammedali Reimov has come up in conversations Lokomotiv were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match1 Jun 2030
Nobody wants to play Lokomotiv right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
A defender's goal wins it for Lokomotiv — 7.97
1 for Muminhon Bahodirxonov, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“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.
Market3 Jun 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Aleksandar Šušnjar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Apr 2030
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad29 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Apr 2030
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Lokomotiv now.
Match27 Apr 2030
A 2‑1 win over Bukhara, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces29 Apr 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Quvonchbek Abrayev 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.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Lokomotiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doston Abdulxayev 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ulugbek Shomurodov, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Feb 2030
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Asadbek Baxshilloyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Asadbek Baxshilloyev has agreed terms with Shortan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad11 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andijon have kept their man, and Lokomotiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Lokomotiv
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quvonch Xushvaqtov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Feb 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokomotiv know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
“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.
Market11 Feb 2030
The clock does Muhammedali Reimov’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lokomotiv could ask drops and the wages Muhammedali Reimov can ask rise.