Marked for Yerkebulan Nurgaliev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Supporters organise against the Akzhaiyk 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
113 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Gafurzhan Suyumbayev 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Akzhaiyk asked and Okzhetpes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The formation has left Anton Zalamay behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Akzhaiyk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yerkebulan Nurgaliev, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Akzhaiyk have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Akzhaiyk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aibol Nuserbayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Match9 Aug 2027
Akzhaiyk are in real trouble now
Position 12, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Seraskhov and Akzhaiyk agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Gafurzhan Suyumbayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Terekhov, and the manager let it.
Market9 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akzhaiyk, another week without a signature from Andrey Terekhov.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yerkebulan Nurgaliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market9 Aug 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Askhat Tagybergen leaves Akzhaiyk the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market9 Aug 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Azat Orazov leaves Akzhaiyk the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2027
The wait goes on for Akzhaiyk
16 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.
The terraces31 May 2027
The mood at Akzhaiyk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marat Postnikov
29 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Gafurzhan Suyumbayev 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.
Match29 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Akzhaiyk against Irtysh
0‑2 to Irtysh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baurzhan Tagybergen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Serikzhan Taykenov and Akzhaiyk agree another 3 years.
The dugout31 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Azat Suyumbayev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 May 2027
15 matches without a win for Akzhaiyk
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Akzhaiyk are no longer polite ones.
Match22 May 2027
0‑7 to Ordabasy, 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.
Squad24 May 2027
36 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.
Match22 May 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Akzhaiyk and Ordabasy, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Beaten 7 times: a bad day for Semyon Yarygin
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Squad24 May 2027
Baurzhan Tagybergen 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 dugout24 May 2027
“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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Nobody left the Akzhaiyk 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
Crisis
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Akzhaiyk's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Akzhaiyk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad17 May 2027
Marat Postnikov damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 May 2027
Akzhaiyk sink to position 12
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Gafurzhan Suyumbayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 May 2027
Shakhter left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces17 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Semyon Yarygin 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Match17 May 2027
Halfway: Akzhaiyk sit in position 12
1 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Akzhaiyk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Roman Yemeljanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yerkebulan Nurgaliev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akzhaiyk, another week without a signature from Alexandr Seraskhov.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Akzhaiyk than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Seraskhov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.