The Irtysh Chronicle
Squad22 Feb 2027
91 days out for Vladislav Poletaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match22 Feb 2027
Irtysh sink to position 6
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market22 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Matvey Zhustjev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvey Zhustjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Irtysh baulk at the price for Ilja Ivanov
Rubin Yalta wanted more than $8.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Door shut on Nikita Yavorskiy
Irtysh asked and Metallurg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Abdulla Mohamed 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages swallow 117% of the Irtysh income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Irtysh try to borrow Artem Ismagilov
Neftekhimik have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
- Market The Yury Bavin talk will not go away
- The dugout Alexey Gusev knocks on the manager’s door
- Squad More bad news for Denis Avdeev