Marked for Ehsan Beiranvand
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout5 Sep 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akzhaiyk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets5 Sep 2033
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akzhaiyk have done the hard part with Kairat, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Sep 2033
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Azat Beysebekov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Sep 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Akzhaiyk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Sep 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marat Tagybergen commits to Akzhaiyk for another 3 years.
Squad5 Sep 2033
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurbol Tagybergen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Sep 2033
Irtysh 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.
The dugout5 Sep 2033
“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 dugout5 Sep 2033
Azat Abiken 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 Azat Abiken trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2033
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Azat Beysebekov 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 targets21 Feb 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.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
This is not rotation. Nurbol Tagybergen has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Akzhaiyk is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2033
A loan enquiry to Kairat: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad21 Feb 2033
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salem Al-Enezi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Feb 2033
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Azat Abiken may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 2033
Nurbol Islamkhan damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
The terraces10 Jan 2033
Supporters organise against the Akzhaiyk 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.
Market10 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akzhaiyk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jan 2033
Nurbol Islamkhan damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Akzhaiyk can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
Emergency meeting at Akzhaiyk
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Squad3 Jan 2033
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Akzhaiyk will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 Jan 2033
Anton Orlov 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.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
The manager's exit leaves Anton Orlov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Anton Orlov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market3 Jan 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Azat Beysebekov signs something — a contract at Akzhaiyk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ehsan Beiranvand trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
$83.0K settles it between the clubs for Valentino Ratti
Zhetysu have accepted the money. What Akzhaiyk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad16 Aug 2032
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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
Akzhaiyk asked and Irtysh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
A loan enquiry to Kairat: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“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 dugout16 Aug 2032
Sardar Moharrami is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market16 Aug 2032
The name of Azat Beysebekov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akzhaiyk say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
Aibol Kuat 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.
Market16 Aug 2032
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Akzhaiyk money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Jul 2032
The mood at Akzhaiyk has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.71, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match24 Jul 2032
No end in sight to Akzhaiyk's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Akzhaiyk has to find a result from somewhere.
Market26 Jul 2032
“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 Akzhaiyk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akzhaiyk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jul 2032
A falling-out at Akzhaiyk
Azat Beysebekov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Akzhaiyk asked and Kairat said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Danil Podymskii
“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.