Marked for Maxim Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Sep 2027
“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 terraces13 Sep 2027
Supporters turn on the $430.0K sale of Abinur Nūrymbet
He is going to Aktobe, the club has $430.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market13 Sep 2027
Aktobe pay $430.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Kuzmichev, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Vasiljev 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Okzhetpes's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Okzhetpes has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Léo
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Okzhetpes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Anger at Okzhetpes 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Vladimir Vomenko out for 105 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Okzhetpes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jul 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 Okzhetpes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2027
Taraz come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Okzhetpes did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Borodin 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.
Squad5 Jul 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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Jun 2027
Irtysh out of the cup
Kairat ended it 0‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
A cup hiding at Kairat leaves Irtysh explaining themselves
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match26 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Irtysh
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.
Match26 Jun 2027
3 matches without a goal for Irtysh
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market28 Jun 2027
Okzhetpes paid $28.0K and Irtysh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Mourad Kaaouach 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Jun 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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
Nobody left the Irtysh dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Okzhetpes's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Okzhetpes has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Jun 2027
Okzhetpes cannot find the net
12 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Okzhetpes may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Vasiliy Sovpel 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Vladislav Vasiljev 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Okzhetpes signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
7.20, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Okzhetpes had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jun 2027
$1.1M — a new record at Irtysh
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Andile Jali 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nurali Suyumbayev is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Irtysh spend $1.1M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.1M for Artur Shushenachev, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Match19 Jun 2027
A bad afternoon for Irtysh against Taraz
0‑1 to Taraz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mourad Kaaouach 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Irtysh will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Market24 May 2027
“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.
Match22 May 2027
5 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Match22 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Irtysh against Astana
1‑3 to Astana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Baizhanov, and the manager let it.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azat Baizhanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings17 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Talgat Suyumbayev at 19 — 7.65
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Talgat Suyumbayev did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Irtysh's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Irtysh has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 May 2027
Andile Jali 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 Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 May 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Irtysh and Ordabasy, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 May 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 May 2027
Azat Baizhanov 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match15 May 2027
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Match17 Apr 2027
No mercy from Irtysh
Okzhetpes will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Irtysh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Talgat Suyumbayev at 19 — 7.81
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Talgat Suyumbayev did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Ğafurzhan Süiimbaev 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 terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Baizhanov 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Apr 2027
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Postnikov 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Azat Shomko told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Azat Shomko has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Irtysh.
Match3 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Kairat Logvinenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Irtysh.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azat Baizhanov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
55 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Azat Baizhanov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Irtysh
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.
Squad22 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 Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Nurali Suyumbayev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andile Jali 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Irtysh
Andile Jali 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yuto Ozeki 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“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 Irtysh, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Irtysh
1‑2 against Kairat, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 2026
Irtysh say no — this time
The offer from Okzhetpes for Rinat Logvinenko was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Irtysh
Andile Jali 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Zhetysu are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Irtysh will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Azat Baizhanov 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Andile Jali
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Irtysh will not keep him by pretending otherwise.