19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Georgy Popov 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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadej Petančič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
13 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Antonio Perkins had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gabala have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Eddy Mammadov 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.
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.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The phone has started ringing about Antonio Perkins again, and this time the name on the line is Slavia Mozyr. AZAL are listening politely and promising nothing.
Georgy Popov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Araz Sadygov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mahir Huseynov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cavid Dadashov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Shahriyar Ismayilov 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Position 9 and 11 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and IFK Mariehamn waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AZAL is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Georgy Popov 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
AZAL asked and Gabala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 Eddy Mammadov is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
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.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonio Perkins is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The phone has started ringing about Eyþór Aron Wöhler again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Mariehamn. AZAL are listening politely and promising nothing.
Renat Nadirov 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.
$80.0K was the most the club would pay and Inter were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AZAL are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Tskhinvali for António Ferreira 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. António Ferreira is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mieszko Lorenc trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Sackey has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Eddy Mammadov
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Tskhinvali for Valerio Mastrantonio 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kamran Ismayilov has, at AZAL, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Something was said to Kamran Ismayilov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Georgy Popov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
$80.0K was the most the club would pay and Inter were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddy Mammadov 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francisco Almaca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
AZAL asked and Gabala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Carlini 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bahlul Guseynov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AZAL are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddy Mammadov 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.
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.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Pavel Klinov is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZAL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Eddy Mammadov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mieszko Lorenc 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at AZAL will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadEddy Mammadov falls out with a teammate over standards
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Eddy Mammadov 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.
Nobody at AZAL will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mieszko Lorenc 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AZAL could ask drops and the wages Orkhan Bayramov can ask rise.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Valerio Mastrantonio has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. AZAL would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Eddy Mammadov
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 150 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mieszko Lorenc 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.
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 Eddy Mammadov is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AZAL has been clear about where Luigi Picca stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Elvin Camalov 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.
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 Pavel Klinov is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMieszko Lorenc asks for a word with the manager
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AZAL will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mieszko Lorenc 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AZAL, another week without a signature from Marcos Pedro.
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 Eddy Mammadov is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at AZAL says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
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.
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.
Georgy Popov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Valerio Mastrantonio's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Samuel Sackey is on it.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AZAL could ask drops and the wages Orkhan Bayramov can ask rise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AZAL will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Qarabag is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Mammadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Elvin Camalov 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.
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 Eddy Mammadov is on it.
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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddy Mammadov 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZAL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Qarabag have accepted the money. What AZAL do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AZAL could ask drops and the wages Orkhan Bayramov can ask rise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sumgayit have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddy Mammadov 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AZAL has been clear about where Eddy Mammadov stands, which is more than many ever get.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Afran Nadirov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Richard Nazarov 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and AZAL know which stage they are at.
Position 9 and 11 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Qarabag keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Mahir Ramazanov is a AZAL player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
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 Eddy Mammadov is on it.
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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddy Mammadov 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AZAL told Szilárd Rostás something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. AZAL would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Georgy Popov
Position 9 and 11 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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Georgy Popov 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.
Something was said to Samir Madatov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Orkhan Bayramov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AZAL could ask drops and the wages Orkhan Bayramov can ask rise.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Renat Nadirov 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Agil Mammadov commits to AZAL for another 2 years.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Eddy Mammadov 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Renat Nadirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Georgy Popov 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AZAL know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mieszko Lorenc 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Samir Madatov.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agil Mammadov 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Elvin Camalov will call it something else in private.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bahlul Guseynov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. AZAL know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bahlul Guseynov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Renat Nadirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Georgy Popov 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bahlul Guseynov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Georgy Popov 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Position 7, 7 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emil Balayev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Samir Madatov
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Renat Nadirov 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bahlul Guseynov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.98 on the card, and the AZAL support went home talking about one name.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Bahlul Guseynov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
1‑6 to Qarabag, 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.
9 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Karol Rusnak: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
7 goals in one match, Renat Nadirov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AZAL and Qarabag.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mieszko Lorenc
BoardroomNobody left the AZAL dressing room in a hurry
Player ratingsThe kick that got away from Eddy Mammadov
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 22 gone
That is the business done at AZAL 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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSamir Madatov dropped after a run of poor form
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AZAL can tell you which week it ends in.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Ravan for Araz Dadashov 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.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Orkhan Abdullayev is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rashad Ismayilov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Georgy Popov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Araz Dadashov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mieszko Lorenc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ravan is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AZAL are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ravan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AZAL is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 8 and 15 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Georgy Popov 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Eddy Mammadov has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
AZAL asked and Neftchi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Georgy Popov 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Francisco Almaca is living that version at AZAL, and it tends to show in the first month.
AZAL asked and Gabala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ravan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
1 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
142 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The offer from Ravan for Araz Dadashov 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ravan is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Malo Bartolomeu has, at AZAL, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
149 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
AZAL had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Inter, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agil Mammadov 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.
Emil Balayev is 36 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at AZAL would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ravan had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Georgy Popov 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Konstantin Nikitenko is living that version at AZAL, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gabala have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Agil Mammadov 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AZAL will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AZAL can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AZAL are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mieszko Lorenc has just signed for AZAL, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutPavel Klinov knocks on the manager's door
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AZAL are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Georgy Popov 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Elvin Camalov 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.
In brief
The dugoutSamir Madatov asks for a word with the manager
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Araz Dadashov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AZAL the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Georgy Popov 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutSamir Madatov knocks on the manager's door
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 May 2030
Georgy Popov 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 words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvin Camalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Renat Nadirov 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.
In brief
SquadWords at AZAL training over how hard people work
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AZAL is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Renat Nadirov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AZAL will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Karol Rusnak
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvin Camalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AZAL has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pavel Klinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michel Estela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AZAL has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renat Nadirov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Agil Huseynov 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kamran Nadirov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Renat Ismayilov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Agil Dadashov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AZAL know it.
In brief
The dugoutSamir Madatov knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AZAL is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AZAL are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvin Camalov 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 8 and 15 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.
Georgy Popov 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Elvin Camalov 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.
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Araz Dadashov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AZAL the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AZAL told Samir Abdullayev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Renat Nadirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Georgy Popov 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georgy Popov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emin Nazarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Araz Dadashov is still in the building
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZAL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AZAL will try again when the window opens; Inter may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvin Camalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AZAL could ask drops and the wages Araz Dadashov can ask rise.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AZAL people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sumgayit is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
Renat Nadirov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The shirt still fits. Samuel Sackey is back at AZAL, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AZAL told Samuel Sackey something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
AZAL and Sumgayit have settled on $250.0K. 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AZAL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
62 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Elvin Camalov 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georgy Popov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AZAL have done the hard part with Qarabag, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AZAL will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Georgy Popov 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.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Georgy Popov 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AZAL told Araz Dadashov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Araz Dadashov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutEmin Nazarov knocks on the manager's door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZAL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Georgy Popov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvin Camalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZAL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georgy Popov signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 15 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Georgy Popov 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 Dec 2029
Cavid Madatov 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Renat Nadirov wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Renat Nadirov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Ravan went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ravan were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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.
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AZAL know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvin Camalov 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZAL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgy Popov 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Eddy Mammadov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Renat Nadirov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgy Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout29 Oct 2029
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Bahlul Guseynov to a room that had heard them before.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Zira left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Elvin Camalov 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.