Marked for Abdulla Suyunov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 May 2028
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Match27 May 2028
A hiding for Obod
Beaten 0‑3 by Kokand 1912, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match27 May 2028
The goals have deserted Obod
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad29 May 2028
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Abdulla Suyunov 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhomjon Kenjayev 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 dugout29 May 2028
“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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Nobody left the Obod 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Mar 2028
12 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Market13 Mar 2028
Umid Hasanov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Obod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdulla Suyunov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
Umid Hasanov faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Obod expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Umid Hasanov.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Obod is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Timur Nematov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Obod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match14 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 11 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Umid Hasanov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Umid Hasanov faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Obod expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Umid Hasanov.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Umid Hasanov 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Asilbek Tojiddinov 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 Feb 2028
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Obod says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Emergency meeting at Obod
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov 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 dugout7 Feb 2028
Umid Hasanov faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Obod expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Umid Hasanov.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Obod asked and Navbahor 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 targets7 Feb 2028
The clock did what Metallurg would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Timur Nematov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.