From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Oct 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Oct 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Khrebtov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
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Squad13 Oct 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merei Zhambyl 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 dugout13 Oct 2031
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Khrebtov, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Oct 2031
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Irtysh lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Boardroom13 Oct 2031
The Irtysh production line keeps running
53 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Oct 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
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Market6 Oct 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Arseny Chuzhikov makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Sep 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Sep 2031
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.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
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Squad22 Sep 2031
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merei Zhambyl 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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Nurali Tymoshchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
Karam Sūltanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nurali Tymoshchuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Sep 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Sep 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
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Squad15 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Irtysh has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market15 Sep 2031
The window shut and Alexandr Khrebtov is still in the building
Irtysh spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Irtysh academy earns its keep
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Denis Mitrofanov
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Irtysh
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Sep 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Irtysh close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
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Market8 Sep 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marko Jevtić and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
No deal for Artem Litosh at that price
Irtysh offered $190.0K; Shakhter said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aktobe have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
Bohdan Sarnavskyi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Sep 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
$190.0K on the table at Shakhter. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Merei Zhambyl 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.
Market1 Sep 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Irtysh will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
Kirill Larionov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Gleb Kalinin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout25 Aug 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Aug 2031
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Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Irtysh asked and Shakhter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Aug 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ordabasy Baizhanov commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Kalinkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Aug 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Chuzhikov
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
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Squad18 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
A loan enquiry to Kairat: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
Dauren Akhmetov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market18 Aug 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Erbol Suyumbayev leaves Irtysh the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Denis Mitrofanov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Aug 2031
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Aug 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Irtysh people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
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Market11 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Irtysh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Shakhter wanted more than $190.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Vadim Konyukhov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Aug 2031
Arseny Chuzhikov damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Match2 Aug 2031
Chastening afternoon for Irtysh
A 0‑3 beating by Ordabasy was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match4 Aug 2031
Irtysh finish in position 7
20 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match2 Aug 2031
No end in sight to Irtysh's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Irtysh has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Everything agreed with Aktobe, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
Doors closed at Irtysh
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad4 Aug 2031
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bauyrzhan Islamkhan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jul 2031
Arseny Chuzhikov damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Match26 Jul 2031
The wait goes on for Irtysh
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market28 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Khrebtov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
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Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Irtysh rebuffed over a squad player
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhter have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Jul 2031
Kairat left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jul 2031
Arseny Chuzhikov damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Match19 Jul 2031
5 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Everything agreed with NK Maribor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
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Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhter have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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 dugout21 Jul 2031
The manager makes an example of Dauren Akhmetov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Jul 2031
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Maksym Kalinkin
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Irtysh will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Chuzhikov
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Jul 2031
Irtysh throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Zhetysu the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Irtysh will enjoy reviewing.
Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zhetysu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
A brace, and Örken Makhan takes the afternoon — 8.73
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Örken Makhan provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
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Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Murad Amirbekov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match12 Jul 2031
The wait goes on for Irtysh
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Chuzhikov
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings7 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Irtysh have done the hard part with Shakhter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Market7 Jul 2031
The name of Alexandr Khrebtov has come up in conversations Irtysh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karam Sūltanov and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Vadim Konyukhov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Irtysh asked and Kairat said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Irtysh sign 7 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jun 2031
Arseny Chuzhikov damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Jun 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Taraz waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad30 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
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Squad30 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kirill Larionov and Irtysh agree another 3 years.
Squad30 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Irtysh asked and Ordabasy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match28 Jun 2031
Irtysh rescue it on 93 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Tobol had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Match28 Jun 2031
Honours even between Irtysh and Tobol
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jun 2031
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhter is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match21 Jun 2031
A bad afternoon for Irtysh against Taraz
1‑2 to Taraz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market23 Jun 2031
Add another name to the list: Taraz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Murad Amirbekov. The answer from Irtysh has not changed — yet.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
“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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arseny Chuzhikov commits to Irtysh for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Chuzhikov
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings16 Jun 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
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Player ratings16 Jun 2031
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.78, and 2 involvements.
Match14 Jun 2031
Atyrau made Irtysh work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhter have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces16 Jun 2031
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Chuzhikov
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Jun 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Merei Zhambyl and Irtysh agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Match7 Jun 2031
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl 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 dugout9 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bohdan Sarnavskyi, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
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 Bohdan Sarnavskyi is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
Baktiyor Logvinenko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
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Match31 May 2031
Three points for Irtysh, 2‑1 the final word against Akzhaiyk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad2 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces2 Jun 2031
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match31 May 2031
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Kairat Tymoshchuk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 May 2031
The wait goes on for Irtysh
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.
The dugout26 May 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match24 May 2031
Irtysh cannot find the net
4 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.
The dugout26 May 2031
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Squad26 May 2031
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match24 May 2031
Astana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 May 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad26 May 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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 dugout26 May 2031
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 Meirambek Qalmyrza is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 May 2031
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Player ratings19 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match17 May 2031
The wait goes on for Irtysh
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 May 2031
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Match17 May 2031
3 matches without a goal for Irtysh
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.
Squad19 May 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 May 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match19 May 2031
Halfway: Irtysh sit in position 9
10 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout19 May 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Baktiyor Beysebekov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 May 2031
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.
Match10 May 2031
Chastening afternoon for Irtysh
A 0‑3 beating by Kairat was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad12 May 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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 dugout12 May 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Baktiyor Beysebekov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout12 May 2031
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 Bohdan Sarnavskyi is on it.
Squad12 May 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Kalinkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 May 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maksym Kalinkin has his answer from Irtysh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 May 2031
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout12 May 2031
Gleb Kalinin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Irtysh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 May 2031
A hiding for Irtysh
Beaten 0‑3 by Shakhter, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad5 May 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Örken Makhan and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 May 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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 dugout5 May 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 May 2031
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Irtysh who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Boardroom5 May 2031
Nobody left the Irtysh dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout5 May 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad5 May 2031
Tempers go at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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 dugout5 May 2031
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout28 Apr 2031
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Squad28 Apr 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
Ninety minutes of Denis Mitrofanov at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Irtysh.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karam Sūltanov, and the manager let it.
Match26 Apr 2031
It needed Denis Mitrofanov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Zhetysu, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
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 dugout28 Apr 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Baktiyor Beysebekov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baktiyor Logvinenko did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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Match19 Apr 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denis Mitrofanov. 2‑1 against Okzhetpes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl 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 terraces21 Apr 2031
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
A performance of 8.25 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Denis Mitrofanov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kairat Tymoshchuk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Apr 2031
Irtysh bow out of the cup
Zhetysu go through and Irtysh go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad14 Apr 2031
1 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.
Market14 Apr 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Match12 Apr 2031
A bad afternoon for Irtysh against Tobol
1‑2 to Tobol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Apr 2031
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Apr 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bohdan Sarnavskyi and Irtysh agree another 2 years.
Match5 Apr 2031
It finished 3‑1, and it was Denis Mitrofanov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Irtysh.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Apr 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Apr 2031
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Irtysh will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Baktiyor Tagybergen is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Baktiyor Beysebekov, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Kirill Larionov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Irtysh
Marko Jevtić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
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The dugout31 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bauyrzhan Islamkhan, and the manager let it.
Match29 Mar 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Maksym Kalinkin 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.
Market31 Mar 2031
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Irtysh has been clear about where Arseny Chuzhikov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Mar 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match22 Mar 2031
0‑3 to Aktobe, 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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Squad24 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Mar 2031
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 2031
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Mar 2031
No mercy from Irtysh
Akzhaiyk will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Irtysh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad17 Mar 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad17 Mar 2031
The match ball belongs to Denis Mitrofanov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
Marked 7.98 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match15 Mar 2031
The drought breaks for Irtysh
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Akzhaiyk were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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 terraces17 Mar 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Baktiyor Logvinenko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Postnikov
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 Mar 2031
No end in sight to Irtysh's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Irtysh has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Mar 2031
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 Mar 2031
8 matches without a goal for Irtysh
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom10 Mar 2031
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Irtysh
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets10 Mar 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ararat have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Mar 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Baurzhan Baizhanov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Postnikov
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
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Transfer targets3 Mar 2031
Irtysh asked and Ordabasy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Feb 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Postnikov
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
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Boardroom24 Feb 2031
Irtysh close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets24 Feb 2031
Irtysh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhter, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets24 Feb 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Feb 2031
A loan move for Sargis Sarkisov is in the works
Irtysh have made the call to Ararat. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Feb 2031
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Feb 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
Everything was agreed with Aktobe and then the doctor spoke. Irtysh have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Tempers go at Irtysh
Merei Zhambyl was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
A loan move for Dimitar Nedelev is in the works
Irtysh have made the call to Pyunik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Maksym Kalinkin 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
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 Karam Sūltanov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Feb 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Marko Jevtić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Vadim Konyukhov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad10 Feb 2031
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
Kairat have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
Nacional have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
Bohdan Sarnavskyi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Feb 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Feb 2031
Taraz come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Irtysh did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
The deal with Shakhter is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bunyodkor is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.
Squad3 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marko Jevtić and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
Irtysh asked and Kairat said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Jan 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Jan 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout27 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market27 Jan 2031
The name of Baktiyor Logvinenko has come up in conversations Irtysh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Irtysh asked and Shakhter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad27 Jan 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ordabasy Baizhanov and Irtysh agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Irtysh have made the call to Bunyodkor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
A loan enquiry to Shakhter: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Maksym Kalinkin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Jan 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nurbol Logvinenko commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Jan 2031
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Tempers go at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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 dugout13 Jan 2031
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 dugout13 Jan 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Baktiyor Tagybergen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Jan 2031
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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.
Market6 Jan 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexey Pogudin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Irtysh.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Dec 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Dec 2030
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Dec 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Dec 2030
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Irtysh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kairat Tymoshchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Baktiyor Tagybergen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Dec 2030
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Dec 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karam Sūltanov and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
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 Meirambek Qalmyrza is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Dec 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Dec 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karam Sūltanov and Irtysh agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Dec 2030
He is 20, and nobody at Irtysh signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Nov 2030
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Nov 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market25 Nov 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Kalinkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
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 Karam Sūltanov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Nov 2030
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad18 Nov 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Arseny Chuzhikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
Baktiyor Tagybergen is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
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 Bohdan Sarnavskyi is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Nov 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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 dugout11 Nov 2030
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 Meirambek Qalmyrza is on it.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Kalinkin, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
Boardroom
The Irtysh production line keeps running
-
The dugout
Örken Makhan keeps his manager's vote
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Nov 2030
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Nov 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kairat Tymoshchuk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market4 Nov 2030
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Oct 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Oct 2030
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
Baktiyor Tagybergen is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
Bohdan Sarnavskyi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Oct 2030
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Oct 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Polesovschikov and Irtysh agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Polesovschikov, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Kalinkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Oct 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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 dugout7 Oct 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Meirambek Qalmyrza commits to Irtysh for another 4 years.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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 dugout7 Oct 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Sep 2030
127 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Sep 2030
135 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Kalinkin 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 dugout23 Sep 2030
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 Bohdan Sarnavskyi is on it.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
The manager makes an example of Murad Amirbekov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
Baktiyor Tagybergen is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Sep 2030
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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 Sep 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Khrebtov and Irtysh agree another 3 years.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
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 dugout16 Sep 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Murad Amirbekov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Sep 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 150 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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match4 Sep 2030
Irtysh out of the cup
Ordabasy ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match4 Sep 2030
The wait goes on for Irtysh
8 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.
Match4 Sep 2030
Irtysh cannot find the net
7 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.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Irtysh 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.
Transfer targets9 Sep 2030
Irtysh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tobol, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bauyrzhan Islamkhan and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Sep 2030
157 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
Irtysh and Ordabasy have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bauyrzhan Islamkhan and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Kalinkin 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 dugout2 Sep 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Irtysh have done the hard part with Aktobe, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Urartu have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
A loan enquiry to Noah: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
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 dugout26 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Kalinkin, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Polesovschikov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Irtysh have done the hard part with Ordabasy, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Plovdiv have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Aug 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Aug 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexey Pogudin and Irtysh agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Aug 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
Karam Sūltanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Aug 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cerro Porteno keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Aug 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Pogudin and Irtysh agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Kalinkin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
Botev Plovdiv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
A loan enquiry to Nasaf: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Aug 2030
A hiding for Irtysh
Beaten 0‑3 by Ordabasy, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match5 Aug 2030
Full time on the season at Irtysh
Position 9 on 17 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match3 Aug 2030
No end in sight to Irtysh's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Irtysh has to find a result from somewhere.
Match3 Aug 2030
Irtysh cannot find the net
6 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Örken Makhan
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Irtysh will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slavia Prague is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Jul 2030
The wait goes on for Irtysh
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match27 Jul 2030
The goals have deserted Irtysh
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Irtysh can tell you which week it ends in.
Market29 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Jul 2030
Kairat left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Baktiyor Tagybergen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Jul 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
The clubs have shaken hands with Tobol; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Match20 Jul 2030
The wait goes on for Irtysh
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
The deal with Noah is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match20 Jul 2030
The goals have deserted Irtysh
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Irtysh can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Örken Makhan 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.
Match20 Jul 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jul 2030
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
$50.0K settles it between the clubs for Danil Podymskii
Shakhter have accepted the money. What Irtysh do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
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Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cerro Porteno is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.
Match13 Jul 2030
No end in sight to Irtysh's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Irtysh has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Baktiyor Tagybergen commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
Match13 Jul 2030
The goals have deserted Irtysh
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Irtysh can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad15 Jul 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jul 2030
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings8 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Jul 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marko Jevtić and Irtysh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astana have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov 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 dugout8 Jul 2030
“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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk 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.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
7 new boys at the Irtysh academy
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.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Baktiyor Beysebekov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jul 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Jul 2030
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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Baktiyor Logvinenko commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
Market1 Jul 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kirill Larionov has his answer from Irtysh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Irtysh pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Baktiyor Tagybergen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jun 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Match19 Jun 2030
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Alexandr Khrebtov obliged against Tobol. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Irtysh.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Irtysh and Tobol have settled on $110.0K. 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.
Player ratings24 Jun 2030
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 19 actions, 6.95, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Irtysh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Partizan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match22 Jun 2030
Irtysh come up short against Taraz
Taraz left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings24 Jun 2030
Marked 7.96. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
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 Baktiyor Beysebekov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The deal with Partizan is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Konyukhov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dauren Akhmetov and Irtysh agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Jun 2030
25 games in 224 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Slavia Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jun 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 59 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
Match8 Jun 2030
Nowhere to hide for Irtysh
0‑3 against Aktobe, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad10 Jun 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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 dugout10 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bohdan Sarnavskyi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
Doors closed at Irtysh
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
A promise honoured at Irtysh
Something was said to Maksym Kalinkin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jun 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 66 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Jun 2030
Akzhaiyk made Irtysh work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match1 Jun 2030
At last: Irtysh win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Akzhaiyk. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 May 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 May 2030
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match25 May 2030
5 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
The dugout27 May 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match25 May 2030
The goals have deserted Irtysh
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Irtysh can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 May 2030
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad27 May 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 May 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 May 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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 dugout20 May 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout20 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Irtysh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match18 May 2030
4 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 May 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 May 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match20 May 2030
Irtysh at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 9, 9 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad20 May 2030
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout20 May 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 May 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 May 2030
0‑3 to Kairat, 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.
Squad13 May 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad13 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kirill Larionov and Irtysh agree another 3 years.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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 dugout13 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bohdan Sarnavskyi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom13 May 2030
Nobody left the Irtysh dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout13 May 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Baktiyor Beysebekov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings13 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 May 2030
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Up for the corner, and Meirambek Qalmyrza delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Meirambek Qalmyrza scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad6 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Shaxzod Shaymanov commits to Irtysh for another 2 years.
Match4 May 2030
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 May 2030
Vadim Konyukhov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout6 May 2030
Marko Jevtić gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad6 May 2030
Baktiyor Logvinenko is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Irtysh will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout6 May 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout6 May 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Baktiyor Tagybergen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Apr 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Apr 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
Meirambek Qalmyrza was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match27 Apr 2030
Irtysh caught on 89 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Zhetysu scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Bohdan Sarnavskyi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad29 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Apr 2030
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Apr 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 110 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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 dugout22 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Apr 2030
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad22 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Apr 2030
Three points for Irtysh, 1‑0 the final word against Okzhetpes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
A performance of 8.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Baktiyor Beysebekov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Apr 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 Apr 2030
Cup progress for Irtysh
A 1‑0 win over Zhetysu, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad15 Apr 2030
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad15 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Konyukhov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Apr 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces15 Apr 2030
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Apr 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Marked 7.70 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad8 Apr 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bohdan Sarnavskyi and Irtysh agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Örken Makhan 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 dugout8 Apr 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad8 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Apr 2030
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Irtysh had all but put away. Taraz will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Apr 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaxzod Shaymanov
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Match30 Mar 2030
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Mar 2030
Irtysh get the job done against Atyrau
A 2‑1 win over Atyrau, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Maxim Kostyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Apr 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.” Baktiyor Beysebekov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Mar 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 140 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 140 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match23 Mar 2030
6 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad25 Mar 2030
49 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Match23 Mar 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match23 Mar 2030
Irtysh hit back inside 2 minutes
Aktobe held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Irtysh answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Baktiyor Beysebekov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Mar 2030
Shaxzod Shaymanov damages knee ligaments — 147 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 147 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match16 Mar 2030
5 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Baktiyor Beysebekov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Arseny Chuzhikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Mar 2030
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Mar 2030
4 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Market11 Mar 2030
The shirt still fits. Askhat Logvinenko is back at Irtysh, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
5 academy graduates step up at Irtysh
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Match9 Mar 2030
Irtysh cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad11 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Mar 2030
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rinat Logvinenko 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.
Market11 Mar 2030
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Erbol Suyumbayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Mar 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Irtysh asked and Shirak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Vadim Konyukhov 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Irtysh than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A new face in his position, and Baktiyor Logvinenko suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Irtysh have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market4 Mar 2030
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Sanzhar Kemelbek leaves Irtysh the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Irtysh production line keeps running
-
The dugout
The manager comes out for Vadim Konyukhov
-
Match
A season winding down at Irtysh
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout25 Feb 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Irtysh
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market25 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valery Matveenkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Irtysh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Akzhaiyk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Irtysh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
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Squad18 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örken Makhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astana have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Feb 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Arseny Chuzhikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Feb 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Irtysh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Irtysh have done the hard part with Sogdiana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Irtysh have made the call to La Equidad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Murad Amirbekov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Marko Jevtić keeps his manager's vote
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Marko Jevtić plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Feb 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market4 Feb 2030
Irtysh say no — this time
The offer from Aktobe for Sanzhar Kemelbek 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.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Once Caldas is saying, and nobody at Irtysh is enjoying the guessing.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bauyrzhan Islamkhan commits to Irtysh for another 2 years.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Örken Makhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
Irtysh asked and Gornik Zabrze said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
Murad Amirbekov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The Irtysh production line keeps running
43 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
The manager plants his flag on Vadim Konyukhov
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Vadim Konyukhov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jan 2030
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Jan 2030
Örken Makhan 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Irtysh
Valery Matveenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2030
A loan enquiry to Once Caldas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2030
A loan enquiry to Gornik Zabrze: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
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 dugout28 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Murad Amirbekov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Jan 2030
The window opens at Irtysh
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jan 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vadim Konyukhov
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2030
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Gleb Kalinin breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vadim Konyukhov
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A fracture rules Gleb Kalinin out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Örken Makhan 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.
Market7 Jan 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The Irtysh production line keeps running
43 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Dec 2029
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Gleb Kalinin out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Irtysh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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Market31 Dec 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Irtysh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Irtysh
Arseny Chuzhikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Nobody at Irtysh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2029
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
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Squad24 Dec 2029
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Azat Nuserbayev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vadim Konyukhov
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Irtysh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Irtysh
Valery Matveenkov 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 dugout17 Dec 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad17 Dec 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Irtysh would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Dec 2029
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Valery Matveenkov 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.
Market10 Dec 2029
Maxim Nuserbayev is 18, and Irtysh have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maxim Nuserbayev and Irtysh agree another 3 years.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Khrebtov, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Irtysh have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Irtysh production line keeps running
-
The dugout
The manager comes out for Örken Makhan
-
Match
Mid-table, and Irtysh know it
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Dec 2029
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
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 dugout3 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marko Jevtić and Irtysh agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Örken Makhan 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Irtysh
Valery Matveenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2029
Vadim Konyukhov damages knee ligaments — 87 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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 dugout26 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Nov 2029
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mehdi Nekounam commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Irtysh will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vadim Konyukhov
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Irtysh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Vadim Konyukhov 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.