Marked for Nir Cohen
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
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 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kirill Fedorov and Irtysh agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“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; Irtysh are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Ilja Krylov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Krylov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Mar 2029
The name of Georgy Makarov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Irtysh say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Mar 2029
Szymon Kurek has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A season average of 7.11 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Irtysh know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Wages eat 156% of everything Irtysh earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dominik Pikulik, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Irtysh are $6.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Georgy Makarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Ilja Krylov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Irtysh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Mar 2029
The name of Vladislav Poletaev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Irtysh say nothing, which says plenty.
Market19 Mar 2029
Irtysh have made Bogdan Romanov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Jan 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Sedrak Movsisyan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Gennady Kozlov, 34, rolls back the years — 8.09
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market22 Jan 2029
Szymon Kurek has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 2029
At 21, Sedrak Movsisyan is already the best thing here
An average of 7.11 in a first team he is several years too young for. Irtysh have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Irtysh
Alexandr Smirnov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
162% of the income goes out in wages at Irtysh
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces22 Jan 2029
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“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
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Marked 7.93 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market27 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Jakub Kokosiński: 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match25 Nov 2028
1‑2 to Spartak Tambov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Wages eat 212% of everything Irtysh earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad27 Nov 2028
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.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Georgy Makarov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A season average of 7.14 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Irtysh know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Alexandr Smirnov 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Irtysh is pretending otherwise.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dawid Śmigielski, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Sedrak Movsisyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Sedrak Movsisyan 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Irtysh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Alexandr Beketov is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Georgy Makarov and Irtysh agree another 5 years.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Irtysh
Alexandr Smirnov 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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
No signings allowed at Irtysh
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Krylov, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sedrak Movsisyan is on it.
Market16 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Irtysh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Nir Cohen still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Irtysh would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market16 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mohamed Kalakeche may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match25 Sep 2028
Irtysh sink to position 13
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match23 Sep 2028
It had gone 11 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Georgy Makarov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Irtysh is pretending otherwise.
Match23 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yury Bavin. 3‑1 against Zenit Penza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market25 Sep 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Irtysh has been clear about where Danil Kapustyanskiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Appearance number 100 for Ilja Krylov
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.