Marked for Maxim Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
Zhetysu 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.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ordabasy Orazov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abzal 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Shakhter, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Samat Postnikov at his very best
Marked 9.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Akzhaiyk.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ordabasy Postnikov has his answer from Akzhaiyk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akzhaiyk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 5.76. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.