Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilhomjon Kenjayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 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 0‑3 Otabek Komilov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Islombek Mamatkazin 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Kokand 1912 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilhomjon Kenjayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ibrohimjon Muxtorov has his answer from Kokand 1912; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
Looking aheadKokand 1912 take on the side everybody is chasing
Position 16 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Javohir Sidiqov and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Andijon left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Otabek Komilov to a room that had heard them before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kokand 1912 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Asliddin Toshtemirov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Kokand 1912 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilhomjon Kenjayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ilhomjon Kenjayev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kokand 1912 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Otabek Komilov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
1‑6 to AGMK, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kokand 1912 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Kokand 1912 and AGMK, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Talgat Islamkhan is living that version at Kokand 1912, and it tends to show in the first month.
Ozodbek Ergashev 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.
Kokand 1912 interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Otabek Komilov keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Akmal Komilov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilhomjon Kenjayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kokand 1912 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kokand 1912 told Akmal Komilov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kokand 1912 has been clear about where Muhammadiyor Marifaliyev stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Islombek Mamatkazin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kokand 1912 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Islombek Mamatkazin 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 quietest bad news in football. At 23 nothing has moved for months — not backwards, which would at least be a conversation, simply nowhere. Somebody at the club will have to decide whether that is the club's fault or his.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Otabek Komilov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kokand 1912 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhomjon Kenjayev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout18 Mar 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 Otabek Komilov to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutUmidjon Hamroyev is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kokand 1912 know it.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Milijan Ilić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kokand 1912, another week without a signature from Asliddin Toshtemirov.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Otabek Komilov recited it perfectly.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kokand 1912 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Asliddin Toshtemirov 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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timur Mirzaev 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kokand 1912 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kokand 1912 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Milijan Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilhomjon Kenjayev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kokand 1912 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kokand 1912
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kokand 1912 asked and Bunyodkor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Milijan Ilić 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kokand 1912 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ilhomjon Kenjayev and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Milijan Ilić 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kokand 1912, another week without a signature from Toma Tabatadze.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kokand 1912 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kokand 1912 asked and Andijon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Kokand 1912 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Kokand 1912 have made the call to Navbahor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Navbahor have kept their man, and Kokand 1912 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Asliddin Toshtemirov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kokand 1912, another week without a signature from Asliddin Toshtemirov.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kokand 1912 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kokand 1912 could ask drops and the wages Asliddin Toshtemirov can ask rise.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Kokand 1912 can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Obod had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kokand 1912 know it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kokand 1912 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kokand 1912 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everybody at Kokand 1912 saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kokand 1912 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ozodbek Ergashev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Shaxzod Shaymanov is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kokand 1912 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom17 Dec 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kokand 1912
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Ozodbek Ergashev 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Milijan Ilić 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Zafar Sa'dullayev is living that version at Kokand 1912, and it tends to show in the first month.
Milijan Ilić 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 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.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Kokand 1912 have gone and got theirs early.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Behruz O'ktamov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kokand 1912 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rustam Nematov is living that version at Kokand 1912, and it tends to show in the first month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kokand 1912, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Choriyor Tursunqulov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Milijan Ilić 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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kokand 1912 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Muslimbek Habibullayev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milijan Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kokand 1912 has been clear about where Ibrohimjon Muxtorov stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kokand 1912, another week without a signature from Zheng Dalun.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asliddin Toshtemirov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kokand 1912
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milijan Ilić 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.
In brief
SquadKokand 1912 are still strangers to each other
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kokand 1912 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asliddin Toshtemirov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Asliddin Toshtemirov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 33 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Javohir Sidiqov and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Kokand 1912 and Metallurg, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kokand 1912 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 134% of the Kokand 1912 income
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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 hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aziz Hasanov did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Kokand 1912 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asliddin Toshtemirov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Kokand 1912 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Farhod Masharipov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kokand 1912 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kokand 1912 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ozodbek Ergashev is living that version at Kokand 1912, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ozodbek Ergashev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Zheng Dalun is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $52.3K of what Kokand 1912 paid for Isroiljon Tursunboyev is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kokand 1912 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Kokand 1912 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Muhammadanas Hasanov and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kokand 1912 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kokand 1912 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Muslimbek Habibullayev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aziz Hasanov did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aziz Hasanov did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
This is not rotation. Shahzod Akramov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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.
Choriyor Tursunqulov 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Toma Tabatadze will call it something else in private.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aziz Hasanov did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Marked 6.94 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Shaxzod Beshimov. 3‑2 against Pakhtakor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sogdiana have kept their man, and Kokand 1912 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 17 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Shaxzod Beshimov provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kokand 1912 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kokand 1912 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kokand 1912 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
0‑1 to AGMK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Farhod Masharipov to a room that had heard them before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kokand 1912 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sogdiana is saying, and nobody at Kokand 1912 is enjoying the guessing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kokand 1912 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
The deal with Sogdiana 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Toma Tabatadze and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Andijon for Isroiljon Tursunboyev 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kokand 1912 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Half the programme played, position 14, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Javohir Sidiqov'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.
In brief
SquadAziz Hasanov, 17, is the weekend’s best young player
14 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mashal were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aziz Hasanov did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
This is not rotation. Bekzod Suvonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sogdiana have kept their man, and Kokand 1912 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 17 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 96% of the Kokand 1912 income
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
This is not rotation. Jasur Yoqubov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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.
Milijan Ilić 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.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kokand 1912 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
12 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
11 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.
1 for Nurjahon Muzaffarov, marked 7.80, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Boardroom14 May 2029
85% of the income goes out in wages at Kokand 1912
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Position 16 and 1 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kokand 1912 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Choriyor Tursunqulov 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Farhod Masharipov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Everybody at Kokand 1912 saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kokand 1912 told Asliddin Toshtemirov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kokand 1912 and Pakhtakor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Asliddin Toshtemirov 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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Toma Tabatadze, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Farhod Masharipov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
One booking too many, and Asliddin Toshtemirov sits out. Kokand 1912 lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Đorđe Đurić
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Toma Tabatadze
Däulet Zainetdinov had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Lokomotiv were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kokand 1912 has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces9 Apr 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Däulet Zainetdinov scored, was marked 7.47, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valijon Rahimov and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kokand 1912 know it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑5 Farhod Masharipov left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
7.81, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nodir Fayzullaev and Kokand 1912 agree another 3 years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kokand 1912 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Kokand 1912 and Nasaf, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bobur Abdullaev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sherzod Hasanov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eldor Ahmedov 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Muslimbek Habibullayev 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kokand 1912, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yehor Kondratiuk signs something — a contract at Kokand 1912 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Kokand 1912 the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Muhriddin Fazliddinov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kokand 1912, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Bekzod Suvonov is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kokand 1912 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shahzod Akramov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kokand 1912 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I watch every Kokand 1912 game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Qizilqum runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Azamat Soyibov reports back to Kokand 1912 with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Muhammadanas Hasanov and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nurjahon Muzaffarov 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.
Kokand 1912 asked and Pakhtakor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutDilshod Saitov back under a manager who knows him
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kokand 1912 have done the hard part with Nasaf, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yehor Kondratiuk signs something — a contract at Kokand 1912 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kokand 1912 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Lokomotiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Muhriddin Fazliddinov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Kokand 1912 know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Kokand 1912 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nasaf, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kokand 1912 asked and Nasaf 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 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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Kokand 1912 can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kokand 1912 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kokand 1912 asked and Lokomotiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Đorđe Đurić 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.
“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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Däulet Zainetdinov 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 new man at Kokand 1912 has worked with Dilshod Saitov before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The mood at Kokand 1912 has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Valijon Rahimov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Muhammadiyor Marifaliyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Däulet Zainetdinov 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 easiest signature of my career.” Denis Nikittsev and Kokand 1912 agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Choriyor Tursunqulov 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.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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 Bekzod Suvonov is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Toma Tabatadze signs something — a contract at Kokand 1912 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Kokand 1912 have gone and got theirs early.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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 Kokand 1912, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Toma Tabatadze and Kokand 1912 agree another 2 years.
Muhriddin Fazliddinov 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
124% of the income goes out in wages at Kokand 1912
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Däulet Zainetdinov 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kokand 1912 is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
“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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odilbek Abdumajidov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kokand 1912 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Rustambek Fomin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Toma Tabatadze signs something — a contract at Kokand 1912 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Asliddin Toshtemirov 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 Nov 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
146% of the income goes out in wages at Kokand 1912
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Behruzbek Asqarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kokand 1912 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rustambek Fomin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
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.
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 Bekzod Suvonov is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Toma Tabatadze signs something — a contract at Kokand 1912 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Isroiljon Tursunboyev has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Position 14 on 29 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kokand 1912 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Asadbek Rahimjonov scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Farhod Masharipov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kokand 1912
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kokand 1912 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ibrohimjon Muxtorov is a Kokand 1912 player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Position 14 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Behruzbek Asqarov provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Rustambek Fomin 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.
6 goals in one match, Behruzbek Asqarov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kokand 1912 and Shortan.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. O'ktamjon Abdumalikov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yehor Kondratiuk and Kokand 1912 agree another 4 years.
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odilbek Abdumajidov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shahzod Akramov, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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.” Farhod Masharipov kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Isroiljon Tursunboyev and Kokand 1912 agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Saeed Ismail is 18, and Kokand 1912 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Shahzod Akramov's mistake
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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kokand 1912 has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 19 gone
That is the business done at Kokand 1912 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Kokand 1912 asked and Lokomotiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Position 14 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
7 goals in one match, Rustambek Fomin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kokand 1912 and Bukhara.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Yehor Kondratiuk 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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Azizxon Isaqov.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Farhod Masharipov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilson 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 dugout14 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Shahzod Akramov'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.
The phone has started ringing about Azizxon Isaqov again, and this time the name on the line is Metallurg. Kokand 1912 are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kokand 1912 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.80, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kokand 1912, and 5 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Farhod Masharipov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kokand 1912 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rustambek Fomin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
Behruzbek Asqarov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kokand 1912, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Kokand 1912 asked and Bunyodkor 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 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kokand 1912 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Azizxon Isaqov again, and this time the name on the line is Metallurg. Kokand 1912 are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv have kept their man, and Kokand 1912 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Kokand 1912 know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Sogdiana the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Kokand 1912 will enjoy reviewing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kokand 1912 can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kokand 1912 have done the hard part with AGMK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kokand 1912 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AGMK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Kokand 1912 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andro Giorgadze 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.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kokand 1912 had all but put away. Nasaf will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.