From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match1 Jul 2028
0‑3 to Navbahor, 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.
Match1 Jul 2028
6 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Match1 Jul 2028
Shortan cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Lazar Majstorović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Sardor Azimov 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 dugout3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abbos Ergashboyev, and the manager let it.
Market3 Jul 2028
The name of Og'abek Asadov has come up in conversations Shortan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Shortan
Nodirjon Soyibov 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
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
7.12, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Shortan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“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.
Looking ahead26 Jun 2028
Shortan take on the side everybody is chasing
Navbahor arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jun 2028
The wait goes on for Shortan
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout19 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iskandar Shayqulov, and the manager let it.
Match19 Jun 2028
Halfway: Shortan sit in position 7
21 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Shomurodov to a room that had heard them before.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Anger at Shortan spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Sardor Azimov, 33, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market12 Jun 2028
Metallurg come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Shortan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match10 Jun 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Qizilqum leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Doniyor Shomurodov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2028
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Lazar Majstorović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch5 Jun 2028
“I did not go to Mashal to sit and watch. I want to come back to Shortan and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev, and the manager let it.
Match3 Jun 2028
Kokand 1912 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 May 2028
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Sardor Azimov scored one and made one — 7.64
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.64, and 2 involvements.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Marked 7.62. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev 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 dugout29 May 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 May 2028
At 37, 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.
Squad29 May 2028
A falling-out at Shortan
Ulug'bek Xoliqov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 May 2028
It needed Choriyor Tursunqulov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Lokomotiv, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout29 May 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yegor Shupyakov
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout22 May 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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.
Match20 May 2028
Shortan get the job done against AGMK
A 2‑1 win over AGMK, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces22 May 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad22 May 2028
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Islom Kenjaboyev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yegor Shupyakov
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces15 May 2028
The mood at Shortan 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.
Squad15 May 2028
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.
Squad15 May 2028
Abbos Ergashboyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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.
Match13 May 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Shomurodov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 May 2028
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 May 2028
Beaten 0‑3 by Neftchi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market8 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout8 May 2028
Yegor Shupyakov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shortan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 May 2028
Nodirjon Soyibov 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iskandar Shayqulov and Shortan agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbos Ergashboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 May 2028
12 combined actions and 6.77. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lazar Majstorović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 May 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings1 May 2028
7.96, 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words exchanged at Shortan
Nodirjon Soyibov 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
Shortan hit back inside 2 minutes
Sogdiana held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Shortan answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Match29 Apr 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Sogdiana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout1 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Doniyor Shomurodov was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Shortan dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Shortan
Farruhbek Muxtorov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Match22 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Islom Kenjaboyev. 3‑1 against Nasaf, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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 terraces24 Apr 2028
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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Shortan.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces17 Apr 2028
Supporters organise against the Shortan board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Lazar Majstorović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbos Ergashboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abbos Ergashboyev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
A mark of 7.37, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“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.
Match15 Apr 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Metallurg defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Apr 2028
Shortan out of the cup
Pakhtakor ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match5 Apr 2028
Shortan throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pakhtakor the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Shortan will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
A brace, and Sardorbek Erkinov takes the afternoon — 8.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sardorbek Erkinov provided it, and the 8.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match8 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Islom Kenjaboyev. 1‑0 against Mashal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
7.73, 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
6 unbeaten for Shortan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Shortan did not have in the autumn.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diyorjon Turopov commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Lazar Majstorović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Diyorjon Turopov 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.
Loan watch3 Apr 2028
“I watch every Shortan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match1 Apr 2028
It needed Nodirjon Soyibov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Pakhtakor, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iqboljon Malikjonov 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
A test against the best for Shortan
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Pakhtakor.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Pakhtakor next, and one man in the Shortan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shortan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces20 Mar 2028
Anger at Shortan spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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 terraces20 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Islom Kenjaboyev. 2‑0 against Obod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Marked 7.96. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Too much change too quickly at Shortan
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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Doniyor Shomurodov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“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 Shortan know it.
Match11 Mar 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Navbahor leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
Shortan counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Shortan now.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akmaljon Muzaffarov, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Doniyor Shomurodov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Shortan dressing room was either.
Market13 Mar 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Shortan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The terraces6 Mar 2028
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Otabek Masharipov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Mar 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sherzod 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eldor Nematov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match4 Mar 2028
Bukhara made Shortan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
Shortan board go back on their word
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Sardor Azimov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shortan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market28 Feb 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lazar Majstorović may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
Anger at Shortan spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Shortan
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shortan is running low.
Market21 Feb 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Feb 2028
7 new faces, and Shortan 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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasurbek Hakimov
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 15 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Abbos Ergashboyev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Iqboljon Malikjonov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Shortan told Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Islom Kenjaboyev signs something — a contract at Shortan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Feb 2028
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Shortan close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Lazar Majstorović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Belts tighten at Shortan
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jan 2028
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
A promise honoured at Shortan
Something was said to Islom Kenjaboyev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad31 Jan 2028
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Shortan know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jan 2028
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces24 Jan 2028
The mood at Shortan 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.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Shortan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Jan 2028
Qizilqum come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Shortan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Lazar Majstorović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iqboljon Malikjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jan 2028
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 Jan 2028
Shortan sink to position 15
22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Shortan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sogdiana, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Dostonbek Hamdamov from Pakhtakor for $310.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sogdiana have kept their man, and Shortan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 2028
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Jan 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shortan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Jan 2028
Shortan say no — this time
The offer from Bunyodkor for G'anisher Qodirov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
The deal with Pakhtakor 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The paperwork is done: Albert Nurullayev joins from Bukhara in a deal worth $82.0K. Now comes the harder part.
The terraces10 Jan 2028
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Albert Nurullayev from Bukhara for $82.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iqboljon Malikjonov and Shortan agree another 2 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Lazar Majstorović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jan 2028
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Shortan can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Jan 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Jan 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Islom Kenjaboyev has his answer from Shortan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market3 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Adhamjon Musulmonov again, and this time the name on the line is Obod. Shortan are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“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; Shortan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Wages swallow 106% of the Shortan income
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasurbek Hakimov
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
The mood at Shortan 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Shortan
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Diyorjon Turopov 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 dugout27 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match20 Dec 2027
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 15 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Lazar Majstorović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
Jasurbek Hakimov damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Shortan is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardorbek Erkinov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
Jasurbek Hakimov damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Og'abek Asadov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Wages swallow 124% of the Shortan income
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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
48 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
Jasurbek Hakimov damages knee ligaments — 103 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 103 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The mood at Shortan 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Shortan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad29 Nov 2027
11 new faces, and Shortan 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adhamjon Musulmonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Choriyor Tursunqulov, and the manager let it.
Market29 Nov 2027
The name of Lazar Majstorović keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasurbek Hakimov
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Naoaki Senaga out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shortan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match22 Nov 2027
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardorbek Erkinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market22 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Ulug'bek Xoliqov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shortan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasurbek Hakimov
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Nov 2027
81 days out for Naoaki Senaga after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shortan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shortan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
Jasurbek Hakimov damages knee ligaments — 124 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Naoaki Senaga breaks a bone — 88 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Asadbek Rahimjonov 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 145% of the Shortan income
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 dugout8 Nov 2027
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 Shohruh Eshbo'tayev is on it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ulug'bek Xudayberdiyev'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 dugout8 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
Jasurbek Hakimov damages knee ligaments — 132 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Naoaki Senaga out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shortan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Shortan 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Shortan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Asadbek Rahimjonov 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
10 new faces, and Shortan 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shortan, another week without a signature from G'anisher Qodirov.
Market1 Nov 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ulug'bek Xoliqov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shortan.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Naoaki Senaga out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shortan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Oct 2027
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Oct 2027
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market25 Oct 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Asadbek Rahimjonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Lazar Majstorović 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
He is 17, and nobody at Shortan signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ulug'bek Xoliqov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Naoaki Senaga out for 110 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shortan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Oct 2027
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match18 Oct 2027
Shortan finish in position 15
22 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.62, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad18 Oct 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 8.09 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match16 Oct 2027
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Farruhbek Muxtorov commits to Shortan for another 3 years.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Oct 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Wages eat 147% of everything Shortan earn
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” G'ulom Haydar G'ulomov commits to Shortan for another 1 years.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Oct 2027
Anger at Shortan spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad4 Oct 2027
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shortan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market4 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Shortan
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Shortan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Oct 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iskandar Shayqulov and Shortan agree another 2 years.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Naoaki Senaga at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Shortan.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rinat Zainutdinov
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match27 Sep 2027
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Shortan
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market27 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbos Ergashboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match25 Sep 2027
1‑2 to Kokand 1912, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout27 Sep 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 1‑2 Doniyor Shomurodov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2027
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rinat Zainutdinov
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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.
Match18 Sep 2027
0‑1 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Shortan are still strangers to each other
11 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
Rinat Zainutdinov damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Majstorović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev, and the manager let it.
Match11 Sep 2027
Shortan come up short against AGMK
AGMK left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The clock did what Kokand 1912 would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Asilbek Anvarov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Shomurodov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rinat Zainutdinov
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market6 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Obod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Kokand 1912; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 19 gone
That is the business done at Shortan 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Akmaljon Muzaffarov has, at Shortan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market6 Sep 2027
The shirt still fits. Shohjahon Abdumannonov is back at Shortan, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Naoaki Senaga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Aug 2027
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Jasurbek Hakimov, 33, rolls back the years — 7.82
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shortan have done the hard part with Neftchi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match28 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
$14.0K was the most the club would pay and Bukhara 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2027
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Aug 2027
Chastening afternoon for Shortan
A 0‑3 beating by Neftchi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market23 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AGMK have kept their man, and Shortan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Bukhara 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
3 matches without a goal for Shortan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shortan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The offer went to AGMK 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Shortan 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
0‑2 to Sogdiana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shohruh Eshbo'tayev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Doniyor Shomurodov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Navbahor wanted more than $850.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abbos Ergashboyev and Shortan agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Naoaki Senaga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The offer went to Bukhara 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iskandar Shayqulov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Aug 2027
Shortan sink to position 15
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Aug 2027
Shortan say no — this time
The offer from Obod for Adhamjon Musulmonov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Bukhara wanted more than $20.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match31 Jul 2027
Metallurg made Shortan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diyorbek Asomiddinov and Shortan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jul 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Mashal, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to AGMK 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Bukhara 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Shortan 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jul 2027
Nowhere to hide for Shortan
0‑4 against Pakhtakor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market19 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jul 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The deal with Neftchi is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AGMK have kept their man, and Shortan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Sherzodbek Abduraimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Jul 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 0‑4 Doniyor Shomurodov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Jul 2027
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 ratings12 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.71, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The offer went to AGMK 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The deal with Navbahor 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islom Kenjaboyev and Shortan agree another 5 years.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Navbahor have kept their man, and Shortan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jul 2027
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad5 Jul 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shortan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match3 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Market5 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Jul 2027
4 matches without a goal for Shortan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Lazar Majstorović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Shortan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Shortan
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market28 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The offer went to Nasaf 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$28.0K 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
3 matches without a goal for Shortan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shohruh Eshbo'tayev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jun 2027
Nowhere to hide for Shortan
0‑3 against Andijon, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shortan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match19 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Shortan
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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shortan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The deal with Andijon is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Nasaf wanted more than $380.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2027
Roman Vegerya hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Qizilqum; Shortan go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $30.0K — a club that wants Bobomurod Bozorov enough to be asked twice.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Nasaf 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Naoaki Senaga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Qizilqum 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
“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 Shortan, and 6 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jun 2027
1‑4 to Kokand 1912, 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.
Match7 Jun 2027
Shortan sink to position 15
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market7 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Obod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Up for the corner, and Mirjalol Jumayev delivers — 7.17
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mirjalol Jumayev scored, was marked 7.17, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Qizilqum is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. G'ulom Haydar G'ulomov is a Shortan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Lokomotiv, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad31 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout31 May 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout31 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 May 2027
Bekjon Rahmatov 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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Sherzodbek Abduraimov 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout24 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Doniyor Shomurodov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Islom Kenjaboyev has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Match22 May 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. AGMK defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nuriddin Xasanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shortan 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.
Looking ahead24 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jasurbek Hakimov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shortan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match15 May 2027
At last: Shortan win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Bunyodkor. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A performance of 9.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match15 May 2027
Three points for Shortan, 3‑1 the final word against Bunyodkor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 May 2027
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces17 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Naoaki Senaga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I did not go to Bunyodkor to sit and watch. I want to come back to Shortan and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Sardorbek Saidov
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The dugout
Naoaki Senaga knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 May 2027
Shortan sink to position 14
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Shortan
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market10 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shortan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
Bekjon Rahmatov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Shortan support went home talking about one name.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Naoaki Senaga asks for a word with the manager
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Match
Shortan and Neftchi cancel each other out
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 May 2027
The wait goes on for Shortan
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout3 May 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 May 2027
Sogdiana left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings3 May 2027
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.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Shomurodov to a room that had heard them before.
Market3 May 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roman Vegerya has his answer from Shortan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga 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 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Nuriddin Xasanov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Nasaf leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diyorbek Haliyev, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Doniyor Shomurodov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 Nuriddin Xasanov is on it.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shortan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Apr 2027
Shortan cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
Metallurg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekjon Rahmatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I watch every Shortan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bunyodkor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sardorbek Saidov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adhamjon Musulmonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shortan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
The goals have deserted Shortan
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Shortan can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Sherzodbek Abduraimov 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.39. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market12 Apr 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mirjalol Jumayev has his answer from Shortan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 Shohruh Eshbo'tayev is on it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
Shortan bow out of the cup
Pakhtakor go through and Shortan go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market5 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
A cup embarrassment at Pakhtakor follows Shortan home
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Diyorbek Haliyev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shortan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jo'rabek Mannonov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shortan.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abbos Ergashboyev commits to Shortan for another 3 years.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Naoaki Senaga, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Bekzod Suvonov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Shortan has been clear about where Bekzod Suvonov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Shortan take on the side everybody is chasing
Pakhtakor arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Shortan man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Doniyor Narzullayev was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Nuriddin Xasanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shortan 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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jasurbek Hakimov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shortan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Naoaki Senaga: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shortan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Doniyor Narzullayev takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Doniyor Narzullayev provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match20 Mar 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Doniyor Narzullayev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Shortan.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
“I watch every Shortan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bunyodkor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 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 Shomurodov, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diyorbek Asomiddinov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shortan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match13 Mar 2027
4 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bekjon Rahmatov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Mar 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
This is not rotation. Jo'rabek Mannonov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jasurbek Hakimov commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Shortan
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Bukhara left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jasur Shomurodov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Naoaki Senaga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sardorbek Saidov, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Mirjalol Jumayev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shortan 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.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Bukhara next, and one man in the Shortan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shortan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Bunyodkor to sit and watch. I want to come back to Shortan and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Ulug'bek Xoliqov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Roman Vegerya
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Diyorbek Asomiddinov is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
The name of Islom Kenjaboyev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Sardorbek Saidov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market22 Feb 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fazliddin Karamatov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shortan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adhamjon Musulmonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shortan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Shortan
Roman Vegerya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shortan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market8 Feb 2027
Bukhara come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Shortan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
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 Shohruh Eshbo'tayev is on it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Shortan will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Shortan close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The deal with Pakhtakor 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Bukhara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Diyorbek Asomiddinov. The answer from Shortan has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diyorbek Asomiddinov, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbos Ergashboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Naoaki Senaga 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bekjon Rahmatov, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Shortan 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Navbahor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andijon have kept their man, and Shortan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Shortan have made the call to Qizilqum. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
This league is too small for Naoaki Senaga
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Shortan will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nuriddin Xasanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shortan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shortan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shortan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shortan have done the hard part with Andijon, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Abbos Ergashboyev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Shortan had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Adhamjon Musulmonov has come up in conversations Shortan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Shortan
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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Mashal have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Navbahor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Shortan
Abbos Ergashboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 115% of everything Shortan earn
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bekjon Rahmatov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Nobody at Shortan 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Shortan have let the market know Jo'rabek Mannonov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Shortan
Lazar Majstorović 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 2026
“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 Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbos Ergashboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shortan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
123% of the income goes out in wages at Shortan
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bekjon Rahmatov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Nuriddin Xasanov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Sardorbek Saidov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shortan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Shortan had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Vegerya, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nobody at Shortan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shortan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Roman Vegerya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shoxmalik Komilov, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Mirjalol Jumayev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Shortan
Roman Vegerya and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbos Ergashboyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
123% of the income goes out in wages at Shortan
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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Metallurg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Shortan and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Nobody at Shortan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes Roman Vegerya a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Shortan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market2 Nov 2026
The name of Islom Kenjaboyev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shortan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
Andijon left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iskandar Shayqulov, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sherzodbek Abduraimov 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Doniyor Shomurodov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
One booking too many, and Iskandar Shayqulov sits out. Shortan lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“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 Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shortan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Shortan 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Bekjon Rahmatov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Mirjalol Jumayev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shortan 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Iskandar Shayqulov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shortan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market12 Oct 2026
Shortan have let the market know Sherzodbek Abduraimov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Shortan the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 168% of the Shortan income
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Qizilqum, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Shortan
Roman Vegerya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Abbos Ergashboyev 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Kokand 1912 made Shortan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Doniyor Shomurodov on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad28 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Shortan have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Shohruh Eshbo'tayev is on it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Shomurodov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Market21 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jo'rabek Mannonov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirkomil Abdurazzoqov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shortan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mirkomil Abdurazzoqov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Roman Vegerya 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Doniyor Shomurodov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
Navbahor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Shortan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Shortan close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Mashal wanted more than $40.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Shortan asked and AGMK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Shortan know which stage they are at.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Iskandar Shayqulov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Jasurbek Hakimov takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jasurbek Hakimov provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $40.0K — a club that wants Zafarbek Akramov enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Mashal 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Bunyodkor made Shortan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 22 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Roman Vegerya
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Shortan
Sherzodbek Abduraimov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abbos Ergashboyev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Shortan
A 0‑4 beating by Neftchi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Shortan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andijon have kept their man, and Shortan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Shortan
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 0‑4 Doniyor Shomurodov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Nobody at Shortan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Shortan
0‑0 against Bunyodkor, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad17 Aug 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Navbahor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Navbahor keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Shortan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Farruhbek Muxtorov. 2‑1 against Sogdiana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Obod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shortan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad10 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Shortan
Roman Vegerya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sherzod 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Otabek 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Doniyor Shomurodov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.