From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Apr 2029
Shakhter ended it 1-1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Miroslav Lobantsev: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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.
Match7 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Okzhetpes's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Okzhetpes has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Apr 2029
1-2 to Aktobe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
The name of Miroslav Lobantsev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Okzhetpes say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Samat Postnikov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market26 Feb 2029
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Maxim Vorogovskiy leaves Okzhetpes the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Feb 2029
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Lev Kurgin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdulla Abdullaev commits to Okzhetpes for another 3 years.
Market19 Feb 2029
Viktor Ziabko is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Okzhetpes has been clear about where Viktor Ziabko stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samat Postnikov and Okzhetpes agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market29 Jan 2029
The name of Miroslav Lobantsev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Okzhetpes say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
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.
Market8 Nov 2027
“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.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
“I did not go to PSIM to sit and watch. I want to come back to Okzhetpes and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Okzhetpes pull $489.7K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Samat Postnikov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Nov 2027
Okzhetpes sink to position 12
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Borys Lototskyi
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Okzhetpes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Pressure builds in the Okzhetpes boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market27 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Mxolisi Bhengu, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Taraz to sit and watch. I want to come back to Okzhetpes and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Okzhetpes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Okzhetpes
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Okzhetpes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Aug 2027
The fee is $200.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tobol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
82 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Taraz to sit and watch. I want to come back to Okzhetpes and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“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.