Marked for Timur Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Jan 2029
Supporters organise against the Taraz board
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Pressure builds in the Taraz boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad15 Jan 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 Taraz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Taraz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gafurzhan Beysebekov 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 dugout15 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Alexandr Tenyaev out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Taraz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Taraz
Egor Ališauskas 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Taraz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madiiar Nūraly 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 dugout25 Dec 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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
70 days out for Alexandr Tenyaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Taraz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market27 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 Taraz can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Taraz
Egor Ališauskas 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Taraz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madiiar Nūraly 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Azamat Erkinbek
“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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Nobody at Taraz 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
98 days out for Alexandr Tenyaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Taraz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market30 Oct 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 Taraz can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Oct 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 Taraz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Taraz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erasyl Keulimzhai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Nobody at Taraz 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Marat Islamkhan damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Taraz
Egor Ališauskas 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nūrlan Däirov and Taraz agree another 2 years.
Market2 Oct 2028
Dias Lesbek is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Taraz has been clear about where Dias Lesbek stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market2 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Faisal Al-Essa loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Faisal Al-Essa's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Sep 2028
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Taraz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Marat Akhmetov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nūraidar Äskerbek had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market4 Sep 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 Taraz can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Loan watch4 Sep 2028
Azamat Erden: I did not sign for Taraz to play for other people
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Taraz and a proper look at me.” He remains Shakhter’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
Squad4 Sep 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 Taraz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Taraz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madiiar Nūraly 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Aug 2028
Marat Islamkhan damages knee ligaments — 80 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Taraz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
$520.0K settles it between the clubs for Daniiar Üsenov
Tobol have accepted the money. What Taraz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad21 Aug 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 Taraz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhter have kept their man, and Taraz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Taraz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madiiar Nūraly 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 dugout21 Aug 2028
Dias Lesbek gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout21 Aug 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 Eskendir Qybyrai is on it.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Taraz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Taraz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 Jul 2028
Taraz sink to position 10
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad17 Jul 2028
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Okzhetpes; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Taraz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Jul 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 Taraz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zhetysu have kept their man, and Taraz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Timur Postnikov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Timur Postnikov has, at Taraz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match15 Jul 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
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The dugout
Islambek Taykenov gets it from the manager
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Squad
Words at Taraz training over how hard people work
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Looking ahead
Everything rides on Akzhaiyk