From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Andijon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Oct 2029
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Market1 Oct 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Andijon has been clear about where Nematulloh Rustamjonov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market1 Oct 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Boakye signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2029
5 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match22 Sep 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Shortan, and it could have been more.
The terraces24 Sep 2029
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match24 Sep 2029
The season ends: position 9 for Andijon
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Martin Boakye, 34, rolls back the years — 9.99
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.99 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market24 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nematulloh Rustamjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match22 Sep 2029
At last: Andijon win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Shortan. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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 Sep 2029
Imeda Ashortia 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match15 Sep 2029
7 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Market17 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bunyodkor is saying, and nobody at Andijon is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Martin Boakye 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
A bad afternoon for Andijon against Obod
2‑3 to Obod, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match8 Sep 2029
6 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Market10 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Sep 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
Navbahor left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market10 Sep 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Andijon, another week without a signature from Asilbek Aliev.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Farhod Ganiev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Andijon until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Andijon asked and Urartu 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 dugout3 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islom To'xtaxo'jayev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Sep 2029
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
A loan enquiry to Egnatia Rrogozhinë: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Aug 2029
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match25 Aug 2029
The run is over for Andijon
12 matches without defeat, and then Pakhtakor. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Market27 Aug 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match25 Aug 2029
4 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Aug 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bunyodkor have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match25 Aug 2029
Andijon cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match25 Aug 2029
0‑1 to Pakhtakor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Aug 2029
12 unbeaten for Andijon
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Andijon did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nurlan Ibraimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Aug 2029
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Andijon will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bunyodkor keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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 targets20 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo City have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout20 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Aug 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Andijon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match11 Aug 2029
Still nobody has beaten Andijon
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
$89.0K settles it between the clubs for Davronbek Rahmonov
Lokomotiv have accepted the money. What Andijon do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market13 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shohjahon Yorqinboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Humoyunmirzo Iminov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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 targets13 Aug 2029
Andijon asked and Pakhtakor 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 ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulvohid G'ulomov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Aug 2029
10 unbeaten for Andijon
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Andijon did not have in the autumn.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Andijon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdulvohid G'ulomov and Andijon agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
The phone has started ringing about Nematulloh Rustamjonov again, and this time the name on the line is Nasaf. Andijon are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Andijon who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Market6 Aug 2029
“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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
7.99, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Andijon had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces30 Jul 2029
The mood at Andijon 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Andijon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match28 Jul 2029
Still nobody has beaten Andijon
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market30 Jul 2029
Eldor Adhamov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Andijon can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Jul 2029
Eldor Adhamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Match28 Jul 2029
AGMK made Andijon work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Asilbek Aliev, 20, steals the show — 7.77
Marked 7.77 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Andijon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match21 Jul 2029
8 unbeaten for Andijon
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Andijon did not have in the autumn.
Market23 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces23 Jul 2029
He is 20 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.
Match21 Jul 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Asilbek Aliev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Andijon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sogdiana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Andijon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shohjahon Yorqinboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Jul 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match14 Jul 2029
7 unbeaten for Andijon
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Andijon did not have in the autumn.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
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.” Farhod Ganiev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
A brace, and Humoyunmirzo Iminov takes the afternoon — 8.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Humoyunmirzo Iminov provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv is saying, and nobody at Andijon is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
The deal with CFR Cluj is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Islom To'xtaxo'jayev commits to Andijon for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Jul 2029
6 unbeaten for Andijon
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Andijon did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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 dugout9 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahimjon Davronov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces2 Jul 2029
The mood at Andijon 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 ratings2 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market2 Jul 2029
“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 Andijon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Andijon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
“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.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islom To'xtaxo'jayev and Andijon agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Age has not caught Martin Boakye yet — 8.60
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Andijon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AGMK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market25 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nurlan Ibraimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Martin Boakye 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 Jun 2029
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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 targets25 Jun 2029
Andijon asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Jun 2029
A 2‑0 win over Metallurg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Andijon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Andijon and Lokomotiv have settled on $590.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market18 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jun 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Jun 2029
The shirt still fits. Jasur Suyunov is back at Andijon, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Andijon offered $41.0K; Metallurg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Jun 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market11 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Andijon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Martin Boakye, 34, rolls back the years — 8.30
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market11 Jun 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
Nasaf will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dániel Farkas has pre-agreed a move to Andijon, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The terraces11 Jun 2029
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces4 Jun 2029
Supporters organise against the Andijon 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for Eldor Adhamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eldor Adhamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match2 Jun 2029
4 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
The offer went to Metallurg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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 targets4 Jun 2029
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.
Market4 Jun 2029
The name of Nematulloh Rustamjonov has come up in conversations Andijon were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Farhod Akhmedov
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 May 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Asilbek Aliev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market28 May 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nurlan Ibraimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 May 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 May 2029
1‑3 to Navbahor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings28 May 2029
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 dugout28 May 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2029
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Asilbek Aliev, 20, steals the show — 9.50
Marked 9.50 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 May 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market21 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 May 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 May 2029
“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.
Match19 May 2029
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match19 May 2029
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2029
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 May 2029
There were 6 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 ratings14 May 2029
No sign of nerves from Asilbek Aliev at 20 — 7.68
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Asilbek Aliev did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad14 May 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Match12 May 2029
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 May 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahimjon Davronov, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout14 May 2029
Imeda Ashortia knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andijon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces7 May 2029
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad7 May 2029
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Asilbek Aliev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market7 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Eldor Adhamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eldor Adhamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Boakye commits to Andijon for another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces7 May 2029
He is 20 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match28 Apr 2029
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Andijon scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Match28 Apr 2029
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market30 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Apr 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces30 Apr 2029
He is 20 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.
Match28 Apr 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Imeda Ashortia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Andijon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Apr 2029
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match21 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Market23 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Match21 Apr 2029
0‑1 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“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 dugout23 Apr 2029
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 Abdulvohid G'ulomov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasur Masharipov
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Apr 2029
6 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“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 ratings16 Apr 2029
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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.” Farhod Ganiev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Sardor Azimov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Apr 2029
The mood at Andijon 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasur Masharipov
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match7 Apr 2029
1‑4 to Bunyodkor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match4 Apr 2029
Andijon out of the cup
Sogdiana ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match7 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
No sign of nerves from Jasur Shomurodov at 17 — 7.89
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jasur Shomurodov did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market9 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev and Andijon agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Farhod Ganiev confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market2 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match31 Mar 2029
4 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Apr 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev commits to Andijon for another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Match31 Mar 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Mar 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shohjahon Yorqinboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
A mark of 7.52, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Farhod Ganiev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Andijon dressing room was either.
The dugout26 Mar 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Point won or two lost for Andijon?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sogdiana? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead26 Mar 2029
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Neftchi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match17 Mar 2029
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulvohid G'ulomov 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.
Match17 Mar 2029
It needed Martin Boakye to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Nasaf, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Farhod Ganiev after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Sardor Azimov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad19 Mar 2029
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Looking ahead19 Mar 2029
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sogdiana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces12 Mar 2029
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Asilbek Aliev, 20, steals the show — 7.78
Marked 7.78 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market12 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Eldor Adhamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eldor Adhamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
Andijon still without a manager
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The terraces12 Mar 2029
He is 20 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 Mar 2029
Andijon caught on 94 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Metallurg scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match10 Mar 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Nurlan Ibraimov damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market5 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Imeda Ashortia and Andijon agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
5 academy graduates step up at Andijon
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nurlan Ibraimov
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Feb 2029
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulvohid G'ulomov 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nurlan Ibraimov
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Pressure builds in the Andijon boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia 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 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Boakye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Feb 2029
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nurlan Ibraimov
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market12 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Eldor Adhamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eldor Adhamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Humoyunmirzo Iminov commits to Andijon for another 3 years.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
The name of Nematulloh Rustamjonov has come up in conversations Andijon were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market12 Feb 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
Nurlan Ibraimov damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
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.
Match5 Feb 2029
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 14 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The Andijon board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Feb 2029
Tobol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Andijon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nurlan Ibraimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Andijon close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad5 Feb 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Feb 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Andijon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2029
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shohjahon Yorqinboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Andijon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Jan 2029
The medical room confirms 66 days on the sidelines for Imeda Ashortia, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market29 Jan 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Andijon
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Andijon is running low.
Squad22 Jan 2029
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Jan 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Asilbek Aliev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market22 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Andijon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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 Jan 2029
Andijon asked and Lokomotiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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 targets22 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Fenerbahce: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nematulloh Rustamjonov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Jan 2029
Supporters organise against the Andijon 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
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shortan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Andijon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Andijon can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at Andijon is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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 targets15 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Khazar have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
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.
Match8 Jan 2029
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 14 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Crisis meeting at Andijon
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market8 Jan 2029
Andijon say no — this time
The offer from Dinamo Batumi for Asilbek Aliev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ibrohimjon Qurbonov has agreed terms with Qizilqum for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad8 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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
Squad1 Jan 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
Eldor Adhamov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Andijon can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Jan 2029
Eldor Adhamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Martin Boakye 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 Jan 2029
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardor Azimov 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Muhammadali Dilshodbekov was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad1 Jan 2029
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Andijon says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andijon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Andijon
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Andijon is running low.
Squad25 Dec 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Odilbek Abdumajidov, and the manager let it.
Market25 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Boakye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Dec 2028
The mood at Andijon 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sherzod Fayzullaev and Andijon agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout18 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nemanja Ćalasan
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 Dec 2028
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 14 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market11 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sayfiddin Sodikov commits to Andijon for another 5 years.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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
Squad4 Dec 2028
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom4 Dec 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
Eldor Adhamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islom To'xtaxo'jayev and Andijon agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sayfiddin Sodikov 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 Dec 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammadali Dilshodbekov, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“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.
In brief
-
Boardroom
$64.6K a year onto the Andijon books
-
Market
The Imeda Ashortia talk will not go away
-
Boardroom
Andijon were not finished after all
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nemanja Ćalasan
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Andijon
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Andijon is running low.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Market27 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Boakye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces20 Nov 2028
Supporters organise against the Andijon 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nemanja Ćalasan
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov has written the date down.
Market20 Nov 2028
The name of Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Andijon say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2028
Andijon are in real trouble now
Position 14, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market13 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 Andijon can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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.
Market13 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aleksandre Andronikashvili’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad13 Nov 2028
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Andijon says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Nov 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
Eldor Adhamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Usmonali Ismonaliyev and Andijon agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Muhammadali Dilshodbekov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Nerves in the Andijon squad
Martin Boakye has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Andijon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Andijon
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardor Azimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asiljon Begimqulov, and the manager let it.
Market30 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Boakye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Oct 2028
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
“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.
Market23 Oct 2028
The name of Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Andijon say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Asiljon Begimqulov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Oct 2028
Andijon sink to position 14
22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market16 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.
Squad16 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market16 Oct 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Andijon has been clear about where Abdulvohid G'ulomov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“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 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aleksandre Andronikashvili’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Another 11 days on the injury, and a return date that has now been moved more than once. The medical staff have stopped giving one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Oct 2028
Eldor Adhamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Boakye commits to Andijon for another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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 dugout9 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.
Market9 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Andijon have no good answer.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Andijon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulvohid G'ulomov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
Pressure builds in the Andijon boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Andijon can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Boakye commits to Andijon for another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odilbek Abdumajidov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Nurlan Ibraimov
“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.
Market2 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Boakye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Andijon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Sep 2028
Supporters organise against the Andijon 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.
Match25 Sep 2028
Full time on the season at Andijon
Position 14 on 22 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match23 Sep 2028
At last: Andijon win one
12 matches without a win, and then this, against Shortan. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Andijon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Match18 Sep 2028
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 14 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad18 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
Martin Boakye scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Obod, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AZAL have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2028
11 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Eldor Adhamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eldor Adhamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AEK is saying, and nobody at Andijon is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
28 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets11 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov had Andijon level again within 1 minutes, and Navbahor never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Andijon can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Pressure builds in the Andijon boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Window shuts: 18 in, 10 out at Andijon
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market4 Sep 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Andijon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Islom To'xtaxo'jayev 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Aug 2028
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match26 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Aug 2028
9 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sogdiana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Andijon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
The deal with Nasaf is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad28 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2028
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 14 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match19 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Asilbek Aliev, 19, steals the show — 7.89
Marked 7.89 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Aug 2028
1‑3 to Qizilqum, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets21 Aug 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
55 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odilbek Abdumajidov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Aug 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Asilbek Aliev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market14 Aug 2028
Sogdiana come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Andijon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Sardor Azimov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fenerbahce have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Aug 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Andijon
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match5 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Andijon
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.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Olympiacos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market7 Aug 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Andijon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Asiljon Begimqulov and Andijon agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match5 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Andijon 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match29 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for Andijon
5 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.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
$430.0K on the table at Nasaf. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad31 Jul 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Andijon asked and Cracovia 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Sardor Azimov 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.
Loan watch31 Jul 2028
“I watch every Andijon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Crvena Zvezda is saying, and nobody at Andijon is enjoying the guessing.
Match22 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for Andijon
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
Imeda Ashortia scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Bunyodkor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Doniyor Masharipov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Cracovia 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 dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Nurlan Ibraimov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jul 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Nasaf, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Jul 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Jul 2028
The goals have deserted Andijon
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Andijon can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Andijon asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Jul 2028
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market17 Jul 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Odilbek Abdumajidov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Andijon.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Vasilije Kostov is in the works
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Looking ahead
Imeda Ashortia faces his old club
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market10 Jul 2028
Irtysh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Andijon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Andijon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympiacos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardor Azimov 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 targets10 Jul 2028
A loan move for Lewys Benjamin is in the works
Andijon have made the call to NK Maribor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 Jul 2028
Anger at Andijon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Andijon have done the hard part with Khazar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad3 Jul 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Andijon asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Jul 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch3 Jul 2028
“I watch every Andijon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
A brace, and Imeda Ashortia takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Imeda Ashortia provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Martin Boakye, 33, rolls back the years — 8.48
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.48 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Andijon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market26 Jun 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 Andijon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The deal with Dinamo Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match24 Jun 2028
Nobody wants to play Andijon right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
Metallurg made Andijon work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia 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 targets19 Jun 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Imeda Ashortia. 1‑0 against Mashal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardor Azimov 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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Imeda Ashortia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Legia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Doniyor Masharipov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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
Match10 Jun 2028
The drought breaks for Andijon
14 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Shortan were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aleksandre Andronikashvili scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Andijon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Muhammadali Dilshodbekov has, at Andijon, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Andijon offered $33.0K; Pakhtakor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Andijon asked and Crvena Zvezda 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 terraces12 Jun 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Jun 2028
14 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
The terraces5 Jun 2028
Supporters organise against the Andijon 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.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Andijon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Jun 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 Andijon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
The deal with AEK is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vladimirs Fertovs has just signed for Andijon, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Jun 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 May 2028
13 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Match27 May 2028
Chastening afternoon for Andijon
A 1‑5 beating by Navbahor was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match29 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 15 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad29 May 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 May 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Andijon and Navbahor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad29 May 2028
Sardor Azimov 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 dugout29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Nobody left the Andijon dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout29 May 2028
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 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Masharipov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 May 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Andijon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Martin Boakye 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.
Match20 May 2028
Imeda Ashortia among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Imeda Ashortia on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Andijon and Bukhara.
Match20 May 2028
Imeda Ashortia scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Bukhara, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad22 May 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout22 May 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 dugout22 May 2028
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 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Masharipov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 May 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 May 2028
Beaten 0‑3 by Pakhtakor, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market15 May 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 Andijon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2028
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout15 May 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Doors closed at Andijon
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout15 May 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Masharipov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 May 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Rahimjon Davronov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 May 2028
The wait goes on for Andijon
10 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islom To'xtaxo'jayev and Andijon agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardor Azimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch8 May 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Andijon, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 May 2028
Asilbek Aliev makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match6 May 2028
It needed Humoyunmirzo Iminov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Qizilqum, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nurlan Ibraimov, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 May 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Apr 2028
9 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Match1 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Andijon
Position 14 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match29 Apr 2028
6 matches without a goal for Andijon
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islom To'xtaxo'jayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 May 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Marked 7.21. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout1 May 2028
“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 dugout1 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Odilbek Abdumajidov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Andijon's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andijon has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Apr 2028
Andijon cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Humoyunmirzo Iminov 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Doniyor Masharipov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead24 Apr 2028
Kokand 1912 next, and one man in the Andijon dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market24 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Imeda Ashortia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Andijon
7 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
The goals have deserted Andijon
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Andijon can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Martin Boakye 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rahimjon Davronov 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“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.
Match15 Apr 2028
Andijon come up short against AGMK
AGMK left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Masharipov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Rahimjon Davronov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Apr 2028
Andijon out of the cup
Sogdiana ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match8 Apr 2028
6 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
The goals have deserted Andijon
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Andijon can tell you which week it ends in.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
“I did not go to Mashal to sit and watch. I want to come back to Andijon and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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.
Match8 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Bunyodkor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Anthony Cletus: 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.” Andijon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match1 Apr 2028
4 matches without a win for Andijon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Andijon are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Andijon are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match1 Apr 2028
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Apr 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Mar 2028
6 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rahimjon Davronov 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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nurlan Ibraimov, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑3 by Nasaf, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Cletus, and the manager let it.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Nobody left the Andijon dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad20 Mar 2028
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Loan watch20 Mar 2028
“I did not go to Shortan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Andijon and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Doniyor Masharipov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Too much change too quickly at Andijon
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Age has not caught Martin Boakye yet — 8.80
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Asilbek Aliev, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Match11 Mar 2028
Metallurg left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match11 Mar 2028
Damir Temirov among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Damir Temirov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Andijon and Metallurg.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
“I watch every Andijon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 3‑4 Doniyor Masharipov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Martin Boakye, 33, rolls back the years — 8.10
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nemanja Ćalasan and Andijon agree another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Andijon
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rahimjon Davronov 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
The drought breaks for Andijon
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mashal were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdulla Komilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Mar 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Odil Mirzaev 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
Squad28 Feb 2028
Humoyunmirzo Iminov 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Imeda Ashortia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Aleksandre Andronikashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Too much change too quickly at Andijon
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Loan watch21 Feb 2028
“I watch every Andijon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shortan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Asilbek Aliev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andijon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bunyodkor keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Feb 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Rahimjon Davronov 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Shohjahon Yorqinboyev and Andijon agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
“I watch every Andijon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market14 Feb 2028
The name of Martin Boakye keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Andijon say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Feb 2028
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Andijon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Andijon close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Feb 2028
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market7 Feb 2028
The phone has started ringing about Asilbek Aliev again, and this time the name on the line is Urartu. Andijon are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Aleksandre Andronikashvili 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bunyodkor have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Andijon signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Humoyunmirzo Iminov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Andijon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Andijon sell a favourite for $1.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Doniyor Abdumannopov was one of the reasons people came, and $1.3M does not replace that by itself.
Squad31 Jan 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market31 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Imeda Ashortia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad31 Jan 2028
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Rahimjon Davronov keeps the shirt for now, at Andijon's convenience rather than his own.
Market31 Jan 2028
A season-long audition: Apollon still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Andijon's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jan 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 Andijon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Andijon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Noah, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Andijon will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doniyor Abdumannopov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mashal have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Andijon are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Apollon 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Too much change too quickly at Andijon
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Andijon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bunyodkor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Humoyunmirzo Iminov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
A loan enquiry to Noah: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“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 Jan 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 Andijon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A new face in his position, and Rahimjon Davronov suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Andijon have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market17 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Andijon and Bunyodkor have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Adana Demirspor have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jan 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Sayfiddin Sodikov again, and this time the name on the line is Shortan. Andijon are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market10 Jan 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Andijon will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Andijon have made the call to Levski. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Andijon will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Asilbek Aliev 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 Asilbek Aliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jan 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Doniyor Abdumannopov 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.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Besiktas have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Nematulloh Rustamjonov has come up in conversations Andijon were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
A loan enquiry to Inter: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market3 Jan 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Odilbek Abdumajidov has his answer from Andijon; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market3 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Imeda Ashortia signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Asilbek Aliev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andijon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Dec 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nematulloh Rustamjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Dec 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Dec 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aleksandre Andronikashvili’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Mohir Komilov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Andijon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
Doniyor Abdumannopov 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imeda Ashortia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Dec 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
Sardor Azimov 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 Sardor Azimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Dec 2027
Andijon have let the market know Doniyor Abdumannopov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Andijon
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Doniyor Abdumannopov 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Boakye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Dec 2027
“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 Andijon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Dec 2027
Mohir Komilov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Andijon
Doniyor Abdumannopov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Po'latxo'ja Xoldorxonov 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Imeda Ashortia signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Miraziz Mahamadaliyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Asilbek Aliev has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Asilbek Aliev keeps the shirt for now, at Andijon's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“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.
Market29 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nematulloh Rustamjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Nov 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eldor Adhamov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Sardor Azimov: 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.” Andijon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardor Azimov 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Odilbek Abdumajidov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager plants his flag on Imeda Ashortia
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Imeda Ashortia’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
29 appearances at Torpedo Kutaisi and the goals keep coming. Andijon are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad15 Nov 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Andijon would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Market15 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Andijon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Odilbek Abdumajidov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Andijon can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Mohir Komilov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohir Komilov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Andijon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Andijon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imeda Ashortia 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
90% of the income goes out in wages at Andijon
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Market8 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Imeda Ashortia signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Mohir Komilov 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 Mohir Komilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Islom To'xtaxo'jayev’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.