Marked for Timur Gorbachev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2033
Amkar are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 42 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout19 Dec 2033
Timofey Zorin: 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.” Amkar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Dec 2033
At 21, Deniz Dursun is already the best thing here
An average of 7.26 in a first team he is several years too young for. Amkar have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad19 Dec 2033
Words exchanged at Amkar
Daniil Agureev 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.
Squad19 Dec 2033
Words at Amkar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Goldobin 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 dugout19 Dec 2033
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.
Market19 Dec 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikita Goldobin signs something — a contract at Amkar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market19 Dec 2033
The clock does Gleb Kosteley’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Amkar could ask drops and the wages Gleb Kosteley can ask rise.
Market19 Dec 2033
Amkar have let the market know Timur Gorbachev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2033
Amkar refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 29 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad24 Oct 2033
He is 21, he is averaging 7.21, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings24 Oct 2033
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Oct 2033
Words exchanged at Amkar
Daniil Agureev 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.
Squad24 Oct 2033
Words at Amkar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulie Jatta 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.
Match22 Oct 2033
Late, late show earns Amkar a point
Minute 92, against Nosta, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match22 Oct 2033
Honours even between Amkar and Nosta
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout24 Oct 2033
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 dugout24 Oct 2033
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jul 2033
Words exchanged at Amkar
Grigory Zhilkin 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.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
$351.6K from the owner keeps Amkar afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets4 Jul 2033
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.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Words at Amkar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulie Jatta 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.
Squad4 Jul 2033
This league is too small for Roman Anikeev
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Amkar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Jul 2033
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yegor Chistyakov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Market4 Jul 2033
“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.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
Intake day at the Amkar academy
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout4 Jul 2033
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.