Marked for Dauren Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Akzhaiyk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Azat Taykenov and Akzhaiyk agree another 3 years.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Hameed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Akzhaiyk are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dauren Postnikov, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Akzhaiyk say no — this time
The offer from Mingachevir for Azat Taykenov 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
33 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
Squad11 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Akzhaiyk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Roman Yemeljanov 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Roman Yemeljanov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Samat Postnikov
32 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.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davron Zakirov and Akzhaiyk agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Kairat Suyumbayev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Market7 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Samat Postnikov
39 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.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Timur Suyumbayev 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
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match16 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Akron
Position 15 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dudu 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akron told Dauren Postnikov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniil Veselov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Akron needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
20 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Nnamdi Ahanonu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Talğat Kusiapov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Roman Yemeljanov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islambek Taykenov, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.70 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Bojan Dimoski pops up at the right end — 7.51
7.51, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Bojan Dimoski
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bojan Dimoski will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dauren 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodrigo Escoval, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Maxim Boldyrev 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.74, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Akzhaiyk
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Roman Yemeljanov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Timur Suyumbayev 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Kairat Vorogovskiy is on it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Akzhaiyk the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Akron through in the cup
A 3‑1 win over Torpedo Vladimir, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Kevin Arévalo, 20, steals the show — 8.05
Marked 8.05 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Akron — 7.38
1 for Khetag Khosonov, marked 7.38, 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
Bojan Dimoski has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dudu 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Arseny Dmitriev 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match3 Oct 2026
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 7 in, 3 out at Akzhaiyk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Talğat Kusiapov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Khalid Shakhtiev 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
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv Moscow wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Akzhaiyk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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
Dudu 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Akron are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marat Bokoev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Akron needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market7 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Fernández signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Akron come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Akzhaiyk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Kairat Vorogovskiy
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kairat Vorogovskiy has come out of that comparison in the side, and Akzhaiyk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market7 Sep 2026
Akron are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Akzhaiyk will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Serikzhan Vorogovskiy is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Suyumbayev 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
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Bazhukhin
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is going to Dinamo Moscow, the club has $4.0M 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Dinamo Moscow pay $4.0M, 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Khetag Khosonov delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Khetag Khosonov scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Rostov wanted more than $51.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match29 Aug 2026
Rubin made Akron work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 Aug 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nazar Makeev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Akzhaiyk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Akzhaiyk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davron Zakirov 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Erbol Shomko
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Akzhaiyk would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A new face in his position, and Kairat Vorogovskiy suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Akzhaiyk have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.