Marked for Samat Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 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.
Market14 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 2 in, 0 out at Akzhaiyk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market14 Sep 2026
Akzhaiyk say no — this time
The offer from Atyrau for Serikzhan Akhmetov 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.
Squad14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samat Postnikov 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Taraz have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Talgat Shomko signs something — a contract at Akzhaiyk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market14 Sep 2026
The market said no: Baurzhan Kuat stays put
Akzhaiyk opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Baurzhan Kuat stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abzal Postnikov
34 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Okzhetpes 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.
Market31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Serikzhan Akhmetov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Yemeljanov 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abzal Postnikov
48 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Akzhaiyk out
Out, 0‑5 to Tobol, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Okzhetpes had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup hiding at Tobol leaves Akzhaiyk 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Akzhaiyk say no — this time
The offer from Irtysh for Azat Tymoshchuk 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Samat Postnikov has come up in conversations Akzhaiyk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Erbol Murtazaev
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
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.