Marked for Marko Jevtić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Irtysh
Surkhaikhan Abdullaev 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 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ädilkhan Taňzharyqov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Irtysh needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market27 Mar 2028
The name of Örken Makhan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Irtysh say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout27 Mar 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 Irtysh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad27 Mar 2028
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Next up at home: Aktobe, who go into it in position 10. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
Squad27 Mar 2028
The selectors could not leave Marko Jevtić out
6.65 across ninety minutes and a place in the division's team of the week. He was the best player on that pitch and everybody there knew it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Ädilkhan Taňzharyqov 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market22 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oluwabori Falaye signs something — a contract at Irtysh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Somebody is after Marko Jevtić’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Marko Jevtić suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Irtysh have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Mahmud Jo'raboyev 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Nov 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Stanislav Oksenenko has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Irtysh.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Marko Jevtić out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Jun 2027
7 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Jun 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Mahmud Jo'raboyev 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
A bad afternoon for Irtysh against Aktobe
0‑2 to Aktobe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
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.
Looking ahead14 Jun 2027
Everything rides on Atyrau
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Irtysh know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulqader Abdullah, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2027
Marko Jevtić breaks a bone — 23 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Jun 2027
Irtysh sink to position 10
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Irtysh
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A move Anton Makurin would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Anton Makurin is living that version at Irtysh, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bruno Silva and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Jun 2027
Akzhaiyk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nurali Nuserbayev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
31 days out for Marko Jevtić 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.
Match29 May 2027
No end in sight to Irtysh's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Irtysh has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Marked 7.53. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Irtysh
Mahmud Jo'raboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 May 2027
Karim Smykov scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Astana, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad31 May 2027
Meirambek Qalmyrza falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Nurali Nuserbayev to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asan Vaniyev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
A fracture rules Marko Jevtić out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Irtysh
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match22 May 2027
Ordabasy left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 May 2027
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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bauyrzhan Islamkhan, and the manager let it.
Match24 May 2027
The half-term report on Irtysh
Position 8, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad24 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stanislav Oksenenko and Irtysh agree another 4 years.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baktiyor Tymoshchuk 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
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Marko Jevtić out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match15 May 2027
The goals have deserted Irtysh
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Irtysh can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Irtysh
Ädilkhan Taňzharyqov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 May 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shaxzod Shaymanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nurali Nuserbayev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Örken Makhan is still paying for one afternoon at Irtysh
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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
54 days out for Marko Jevtić 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Oluwabori Falaye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Ädilkhan Taňzharyqov 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 dugout10 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A mark of 7.38, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout10 May 2027
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.” Nurali Nuserbayev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match8 May 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Shakhter came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shaxzod Shaymanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Marko Jevtić out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Karam Sūltanov 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.
Match1 May 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout3 May 2027
“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 dugout3 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nurali Nuserbayev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout3 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shaxzod Shaymanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Mahmud Jo'raboyev 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Oluwabori Falaye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Apr 2027
Three points for Irtysh, 1‑0 the final word against Okzhetpes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
The afternoon belonged to Örken Makhan
A mark of 7.90, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad26 Apr 2027
10 new faces, and Irtysh are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Irtysh told Miras Zhaqsymbetov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Örken Makhan finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Irtysh have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Apr 2027
The cup run ends for Irtysh
0‑2 against Zhetysu, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Irtysh
Mahmud Jo'raboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 23 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Three points for Irtysh, 1‑0 the final word against Taraz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Appearance number 200 for Marko Jevtić
200 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Mahmud Jo'raboyev at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Irtysh.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Asan Vaniyev commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bauyrzhan Islamkhan and Irtysh agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Irtysh
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oluwabori Falaye 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.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Baurzhan Baizhanov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Azat Dosmagambetov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Rinat Taykenov 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A move Maxim Belkovskiy would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Maxim Belkovskiy is living that version at Irtysh, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marko Jevtić in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Transfer targets5 Oct 2026
Shakhter wanted more than $4.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Irtysh can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Irtysh
0‑1 against Okzhetpes, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ordabasy have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Akzhaiyk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No place for Erbol Abiken in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Irtysh are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ruslan Yudenkov
Nobody at Irtysh is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.