Marked for Timur Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
0‑4 to Kairat, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market19 Apr 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 The request is on a desk at Akzhaiyk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Akzhaiyk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Akzhaiyk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Marat Baizhanov 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 dugout19 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
This is not rotation. Ordabasy Orazov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Akzhaiyk is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akzhaiyk can pretend not to have heard.
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 Akzhaiyk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Mar 2027
The drought breaks for Akzhaiyk
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Atyrau were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match20 Mar 2027
Three points for Akzhaiyk, 1‑0 the final word against Atyrau in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.78, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.” Baurzhan Nurgaliev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Yeldos Taykenov, 15, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Akzhaiyk would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akzhaiyk can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Samat Abiken
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hayk Khachatryan and Akzhaiyk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Aktobe: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Nurali Baizhanov 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Akzhaiyk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Erbol Vorogovskiy 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Timur Postnikov
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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
Squad5 Oct 2026
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akzhaiyk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Marat Baizhanov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Erbol Nurgaliev and Akzhaiyk agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kairat Islamkhan
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akzhaiyk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akzhaiyk have done the hard part with Astana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akzhaiyk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Akzhaiyk have made the call to Taraz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Askhat Dosmagambetov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.