The mood at Metallurg 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.
Metallurg and Mashal have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Abbos G'ulomov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pakhtakor have kept their man, and Metallurg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sanjar Shoahmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Asilbek Tojiddinov and Metallurg agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Mashal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metallurg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
The mood at Metallurg 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Asiljon Begimqulov 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
14 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.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Metallurg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Abbos G'ulomov 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 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mirzo Ganiev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutSahob Rashidov asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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.
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Metallurg until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Abbos G'ulomov 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Abbos G'ulomov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metallurg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Navbahor is saying, and nobody at Metallurg is enjoying the guessing.
$110.0K on the table at Mashal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Abbos G'ulomov from Navbahor for $1.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Obod have kept their man, and Metallurg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Asiljon Begimqulov 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.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AZAL had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Jaloliddin Mirzaev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Lisitsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: AZAL have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladimir Lisitsin. The answer from Obod has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shohruh Ahmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Lisitsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Akmal Masharipov'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Shohruh Tukhtasinov’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.
Position 16 and 0 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Lisitsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Akmal Masharipov'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.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mirzo Urunov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nodir Ismailov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dostonbek Ahmedov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aziz Tukhtasinov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eldor Abdullaev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shohruh Ahmedov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Akmal Masharipov'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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Lisitsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shohruh Ahmedov 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.
“I watch every Obod game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Metallurg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jaloliddin Mirzaev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sherzod Komilov 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.
“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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sardor Masharipov after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Lisitsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sardor Masharipov to a room that had heard them before.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 2 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.
Jaloliddin Mirzaev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirzo Urunov 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.