Marked for Timur Murtazaev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Aug 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 Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Nnamdi Ahanonu: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Irtysh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Ordabasy Tagybergen 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Alexandr Zuev 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
A bad afternoon for Irtysh against Ordabasy
0‑1 to Ordabasy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch2 Aug 2027
“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 2 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nurali Zainutdinov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market2 Aug 2027
Kairat Shomko is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Irtysh has been clear about where Kairat Shomko stands, which is more than many ever get.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 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 Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Zuev 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Alexandr Zuev scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Kairat, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market26 Jul 2027
A conversation is coming this week. Irtysh will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Timur 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jun 2027
A hiding for Irtysh
Beaten 0‑3 by Aktobe, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market7 Jun 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 Irtysh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Hossein Saki 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Yeldos Taykenov
“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.
Boardroom7 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.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I watch every Irtysh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maccabi Netanya runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Irtysh told Ordabasy Tagybergen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Hossein Saki is still paying for one afternoon at Irtysh
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Irtysh, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hossein Saki 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Timur Murtazaev 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 ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“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 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Match8 May 2027
Honours even between Irtysh and Kairat
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
39 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.
Match18 Nov 2026
The small margins put Irtysh out
Out, 1‑2 to Kairat, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Irtysh
Noam Ben-Harush 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Hossein Saki 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
7.99, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Irtysh had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Loan watch23 Nov 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 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Chances created: 4. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.