The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Doniyor Mirzaev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AGMK dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Nasaf defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aziz Xolmurodov signs something — a contract at AGMK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AGMK 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.
In brief
The dugoutAbror Karimov has become a man the manager trusts
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Abdurahmonov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AGMK pretended it was anything other than a decision 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AGMK 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmadullo Muqumjonov 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aziz Xolmurodov. 3‑1 against Obod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.83 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The shirt still fits. Ulug'bek Sunnatov is back at AGMK, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ulug'bek Sunnatov has, at AGMK, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Doniyor Mirzaev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mirjamol Qosimov'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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
The offer from Irtysh for Ali Abdurahmonov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Doniyor Mirzaev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Hamidullo Abdunabiyev has agreed terms with Navbahor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AGMK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AGMK people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 he is 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.
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 goal that put Kokand 1912 ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when AGMK equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Islom 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. Eldor Mirzaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The phone has started ringing about Ali Abdurahmonov again, and this time the name on the line is Fakel. AGMK 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AGMK told Giorgi Papava something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AGMK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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 name of Eldorbek Begimov has come up in conversations AGMK were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
$1.2M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
He is going to Pakhtakor, the club has $1.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AGMK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Asadbek Sobirjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Nasaf have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sherzodjon Komilov. The answer from AGMK has not changed — yet.
A brace, and Uroš Kojić takes the afternoon — 9.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Kojić provided it, and the 9.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between AGMK and Metallurg, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asadbek Sobirjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AGMK and Mashal, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Asadbek Sobirjonov 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at AGMK escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asadbek Sobirjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
A brace, and Uroš Kojić takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Kojić provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Doniyor Mirzaev could afford to be generous.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
Player ratingsNaoaki Senaga beats them one at a time
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Doniyor Mirzaev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Asadbek Sobirjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Uroš Kojić 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nodir Ganiev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Uroš Kojić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Aziz Xolmurodov had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Kokand 1912 were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aziz Xolmurodov provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Hamidullo Abdunabiyev: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Doniyor Mirzaev left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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 Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Doniyor Mirzaev after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Uroš Kojić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Doniyor Mirzaev, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmadullo Muqumjonov 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.
Neftchi next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Ali Abdurahmonov again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Brest. AGMK are listening politely and promising nothing.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmadullo Muqumjonov 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
AGMK had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Obod for Asadbek Sobirjonov 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sogdiana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AGMK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
AGMK close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal with Zenit 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rotor is saying, and nobody at AGMK is enjoying the guessing.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AGMK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AGMK 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 AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Obod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AGMK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Muhammadjon Valiyev has, at AGMK, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The phone has started ringing about Ali Abdurahmonov again, and this time the name on the line is Alashkert. AGMK 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 AGMK 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 Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AGMK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AGMK, another week without a signature from Hamidullo Abdunabiyev.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alashkert have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AGMK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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 Umidjon Ergashev has written the date down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AGMK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aziz Xolmurodov signs something — a contract at AGMK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Mirjamol Qosimov is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AGMK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Akbar O'ktamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK 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.
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 Aziz Xolmurodov signs something — a contract at AGMK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK 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 Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mirjamol Qosimov is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. AGMK would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
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 Umidjon Ergashev has written the date down.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mirzo Fayzullaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 Abror Karimov is on it.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ali Abdurahmonov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A 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 Asadbek Sobirjonov has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AGMK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadRian Islomov is not doing himself any favours
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Akbar O'ktamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Aziz Xolmurodov signs something — a contract at AGMK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Arihiro Sentoku and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Odil Ganiev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and AGMK are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 Abror Karimov is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AGMK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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 at AGMK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Doniyor Mirzaev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Uroš Kojić was the best thing in any of them.
Nobody at AGMK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Uroš Kojić takes the afternoon — 9.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Kojić provided it, and the 9.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Metallurg tried to reorganise, AGMK did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AGMK close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Urartu is saying, and nobody at AGMK is enjoying the guessing.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 he is 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Omonoia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Akbar O'ktamov has agreed terms with Sogdiana for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santiago Wanderers have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Minsk is saying, and nobody at AGMK is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AGMK and Obod in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ali Abdurahmonov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match12 Aug 2026
Akbar O'ktamov wins it after the whistle should have gone
113 minutes played. Akbar O'ktamov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Qizilqum went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
1 for Behruzbek Asqarov, marked 7.79, 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.
The offer went to Navbahor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$750.0K was the most the club would pay and Qizilqum were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ararat-Armenia is saying, and nobody at AGMK is enjoying the guessing.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Otabek Abdullaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dostonbek Abdullaev 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.
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
AGMK offered $360.0K; Lokomotiv said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AGMK will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.