From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2030
Shortan sink to position 16
22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market11 Nov 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Nov 2030
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Nov 2030
Zahaby Gholy 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Shortan will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Oct 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Oct 2030
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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Semyon Abdulov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom28 Oct 2030
103% 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shoolim Toshimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 Oct 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islom Kenjaboyev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
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.
Market21 Oct 2030
“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 Oct 2030
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
Uneasy
Match14 Oct 2030
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 16, 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.
Market14 Oct 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Oct 2030
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Abbos Ergashboyev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Odil Ahmedov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Oct 2030
Zahaby Gholy 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Squad7 Oct 2030
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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Shortan will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Sep 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Sep 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom30 Sep 2030
Wages eat 95% 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.
Market30 Sep 2030
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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Zahaby Gholy knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zahaby Gholy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
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.
The terraces23 Sep 2030
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 34 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market23 Sep 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Sep 2030
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.
Match21 Sep 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Sep 2030
“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.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market23 Sep 2030
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Diyorbek Haliyev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Sep 2030
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.
Market16 Sep 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
A performance of 8.93 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islom Kenjaboyev, and the manager let it.
Match14 Sep 2030
Three points for Shortan, 1‑0 the final word against Qizilqum in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Zahaby Gholy left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Zahaby Gholy will call it something else in private.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Defensive actions: 12. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Sep 2030
“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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Iskandar Shayqulov and Shortan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Sep 2030
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.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.81, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zahaby Gholy, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Sep 2030
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match7 Sep 2030
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The terraces9 Sep 2030
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.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Sep 2030
“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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match31 Aug 2030
Lokomotiv made Shortan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Wages eat 89% 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Aug 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
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.
Match24 Aug 2030
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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
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.
Market26 Aug 2030
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Shortan will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match24 Aug 2030
A bad afternoon for Shortan against AGMK
1‑2 to AGMK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Aug 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market26 Aug 2030
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
Marked 5.32, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2030
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 16, 15 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.
Market19 Aug 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match17 Aug 2030
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.
Squad19 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Aug 2030
Bunyodkor left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Aug 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
5.43 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Aug 2030
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.
Market12 Aug 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match10 Aug 2030
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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
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.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad12 Aug 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad12 Aug 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sherzodbek Abduraimov and Shortan agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match10 Aug 2030
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Neftchi defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market12 Aug 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Aug 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirjalol Jumayev, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Aug 2030
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Shortan have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Match3 Aug 2030
It needed Abbos Ergashboyev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sogdiana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Shortan will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market5 Aug 2030
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.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
Marked 5.65, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 Jul 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ulugbek Fayzullaev and Shortan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match27 Jul 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Nasaf will be the happier side with the point.
Market29 Jul 2030
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Jul 2030
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 16 and 12 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.
Market22 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jul 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match20 Jul 2030
It needed Islom Kenjaboyev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Metallurg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Marked 5.70, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Market22 Jul 2030
Still no signature from Sota Minami
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Shortan could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jul 2030
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.
Match13 Jul 2030
Three points for Shortan, 1‑0 the final word against Mashal in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Jasurbek Hakimov 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.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulla Komilov, and the manager let it.
Market15 Jul 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Jul 2030
“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.
Match6 Jul 2030
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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
“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 4 years.
Squad8 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Jul 2030
0‑2 to Pakhtakor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Jul 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
$7.8K taken back off the Shortan table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Market8 Jul 2030
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.
Player ratings8 Jul 2030
Marked 5.64, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
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 Jul 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match29 Jun 2030
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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
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.
Match29 Jun 2030
A bad afternoon for Shortan against Obod
1‑3 to Obod, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
A performance of 8.65 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jun 2030
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 16, 8 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.
Match22 Jun 2030
Nowhere to hide for Shortan
0‑3 against Navbahor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market24 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islom Kenjaboyev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
Nobody left the Shortan dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad24 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rani Saief commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Player ratings24 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Jun 2030
5.58 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match15 Jun 2030
Bukhara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market17 Jun 2030
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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diyorbek Haliyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market10 Jun 2030
Eldor Suyunov 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Jun 2030
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad10 Jun 2030
“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.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
88% 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.
Match8 Jun 2030
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market10 Jun 2030
No place for Bobur Ganiev in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bobur Ganiev has his answer from Shortan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jun 2030
“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 Jun 2030
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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
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.
Match1 Jun 2030
Three points for Shortan, 2‑1 the final word against Qizilqum in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 Jun 2030
32 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market3 Jun 2030
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Dostonbek Akhmedov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shortan.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 May 2030
The wait goes on for Shortan
16 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match27 May 2030
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 16, 4 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.
Market27 May 2030
“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 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 May 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 May 2030
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Eldor Suyunov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad27 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zahaby Gholy, and the manager let it.
Squad27 May 2030
“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.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 May 2030
15 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Market20 May 2030
Sota Minami 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Player ratings20 May 2030
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 May 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 May 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jasurbek Hakimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Shots: 12, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 May 2030
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 May 2030
“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.
Market13 May 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 May 2030
A bad afternoon for Shortan against AGMK
0‑2 to AGMK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 May 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad13 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bobur Ganiev commits to Shortan for another 3 years.
Player ratings13 May 2030
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Shortan, and it is a cruel one.
Market13 May 2030
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
Match4 May 2030
13 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Market6 May 2030
“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.
Squad6 May 2030
“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.
Squad6 May 2030
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad6 May 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Squad6 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mirjalol Jumayev commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Player ratings6 May 2030
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 ratings6 May 2030
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Apr 2030
12 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Apr 2030
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 4 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.
Market29 Apr 2030
Eldor Suyunov 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad29 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Apr 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match27 Apr 2030
A bad afternoon for Shortan against Neftchi
0‑1 to Neftchi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 Apr 2030
“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
Match20 Apr 2030
11 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Market22 Apr 2030
Sota Minami 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.74, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Apr 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match20 Apr 2030
A 3‑3 draw with Sogdiana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Apr 2030
10 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Market15 Apr 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Zahaby Gholy
“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.
Match13 Apr 2030
Shortan and Nasaf cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Nasaf came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
5.35 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Apr 2030
The wait goes on for Shortan
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match3 Apr 2030
Shortan out of the cup
Pakhtakor ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces8 Apr 2030
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 35 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market8 Apr 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Apr 2030
50 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Apr 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match6 Apr 2030
Metallurg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Mar 2030
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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
The medical room confirms 64 days on the sidelines for Abrorbek Toshqo'ziev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Mar 2030
It needed Islom Kenjaboyev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mashal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Apr 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Mar 2030
“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.
Match23 Mar 2030
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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad25 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Akmal Masharipov and Shortan agree another 3 years.
Squad25 Mar 2030
At 17 years old, Mirzo Nematov became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Market25 Mar 2030
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.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
Marked 5.38, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Mar 2030
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.
Match16 Mar 2030
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.
Market18 Mar 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.46, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match16 Mar 2030
Shortan and Obod take a point apiece
It finished 4‑4, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirjalol Jumayev, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Mar 2030
78 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match9 Mar 2030
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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Mar 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“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
The terraces4 Mar 2030
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 35 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad4 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Mar 2030
The shirt still fits. Eldor Suyunov 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.
Market4 Mar 2030
As if he never left: Timur Suyunov returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Timur Suyunov is a Shortan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market4 Mar 2030
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market4 Mar 2030
The shirt still fits. Akmal Masharipov 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.
Match2 Mar 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad4 Mar 2030
The captaincy has been taken off Shohruh Eshbo'tayev. Shortan will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Feb 2030
Zahaby Gholy 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
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.
Market25 Feb 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Feb 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Feb 2030
Sota Minami 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
106 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Feb 2030
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 15 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
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 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shohruh Eshbo'tayev and Shortan agree another 3 years.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Market4 Feb 2030
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Market4 Feb 2030
Shortan spent the window trying to move Jasurbek Hakimov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Rani Saief 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.
Market28 Jan 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jan 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Sota Minami in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Sota Minami 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jan 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Jan 2030
The medical room confirms 134 days on the sidelines for Shohruh Eshbo'tayev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jan 2030
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 15 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 Jan 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
Shortan pull $27.4K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market7 Jan 2030
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Nerves in the Shortan squad
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Dec 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mardonjon Meliyev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Dec 2029
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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Javohir Iskandarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Dec 2029
Shortan sink to position 15
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market10 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Rani Saief in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Dec 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ulug'bek Xudayberdiyev commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Sota Minami 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
Market26 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Azizbek Odilov commits to Shortan for another 2 years.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Sota Minami 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.
Market26 Nov 2029
Shortan shop where it costs nothing
Azizbek Odilov signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
“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.
Market19 Nov 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Nov 2029
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 25 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.
Market12 Nov 2029
Sota Minami 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Nov 2029
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pratama Pratama commits to Shortan for another 3 years.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“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.
Market5 Nov 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Oct 2029
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.
Market29 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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
Market22 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Oct 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Oct 2029
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 15, 25 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Diyorbek Mamadaliyev 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
Market8 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mirjalol Jumayev and Shortan agree another 2 years.
Market8 Oct 2029
“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.
Market8 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Sota Minami 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Oct 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Oct 2029
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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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
Market24 Sep 2029
“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 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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 ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match22 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Andijon will be the happier side with the point.
Market24 Sep 2029
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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
A mark of 5.57 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Sep 2029
Shortan are in real trouble now
Position 16, 24 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.
Market17 Sep 2029
Sota Minami 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“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 ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match15 Sep 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Qizilqum came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Diyorbek Haliyev will call it something else in private.
Market17 Sep 2029
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Sep 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Sep 2029
It finished 3‑1, and it was Islom Kenjaboyev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Shortan.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jasurbek Hakimov will call it something else in private.
Squad10 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Zahaby Gholy
“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.
Market10 Sep 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Sep 2029
9 matches without a win for Shortan
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Shortan are no longer polite ones.
Market3 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Sep 2029
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Lokomotiv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sota Minami, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Sep 2029
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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Sep 2029
At 19 years old, Timur Nematov became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Aug 2029
No end in sight to Shortan's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shortan has to find a result from somewhere.
Market27 Aug 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“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.
Match25 Aug 2029
Shortan come up short against AGMK
AGMK left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market27 Aug 2029
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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Sota Minami knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sota Minami trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Aug 2029
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 16 and 20 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match18 Aug 2029
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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
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.
Match18 Aug 2029
0‑2 to Bunyodkor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“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 ratings20 Aug 2029
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market20 Aug 2029
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Sota Minami knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sota Minami trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Aug 2029
“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.
Match11 Aug 2029
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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Al-Nahdi and Shortan agree another 3 years.
Match11 Aug 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Neftchi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market13 Aug 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shohruh Eshbo'tayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market6 Aug 2029
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.
Market6 Aug 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match4 Aug 2029
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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“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 ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“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.
Match28 Jul 2029
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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Jul 2029
Nasaf left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“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 ratings30 Jul 2029
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Shortan, and it is a cruel one.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Jasurbek Hakimov 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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A mark of 5.55 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jul 2029
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.
Market23 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad23 Jul 2029
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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islom Kenjaboyev, and the manager let it.
Match21 Jul 2029
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 ratings23 Jul 2029
Defensive actions: 12, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market23 Jul 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islom Kenjaboyev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Iskandar Shayqulov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match14 Jul 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Sota Minami gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market16 Jul 2029
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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
5.49 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Diyorbek Mamadaliyev 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.
Match7 Jul 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
99% 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 terraces9 Jul 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shortan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Iskandar Shayqulov and Shortan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jun 2029
Shortan get the job done against Obod
A 3‑2 win over Obod, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Marked 8.90 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Jun 2029
Every point is an argument now for Shortan
Position 15 and 14 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.
Market25 Jun 2029
Zahaby Gholy 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
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.
Match23 Jun 2029
0‑1 to Navbahor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“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.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market25 Jun 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islom Kenjaboyev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
A mark of 5.46 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad18 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shoolim Toshimov, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“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
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Shohruh Eshbo'tayev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match9 Jun 2029
Andijon left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jasurbek Hakimov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
Wages eat 92% 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 Jun 2029
“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.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market11 Jun 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
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.
Market4 Jun 2029
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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
A performance of 8.70 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“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.
Match2 Jun 2029
A 1‑0 win over Qizilqum, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 May 2029
Shortan sink to position 14
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market28 May 2029
“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.
Match26 May 2029
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.
Squad28 May 2029
“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.
Match26 May 2029
Kokand 1912 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 May 2029
Shoolim Toshimov 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 terraces28 May 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Uneasy
Market21 May 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2029
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 May 2029
Diyorbek Mamadaliyev 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 May 2029
“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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad21 May 2029
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Adhamjon Musulmonov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Match19 May 2029
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Lokomotiv defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 May 2029
Shortan come up short against AGMK
AGMK left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces14 May 2029
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.
Squad14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timur Nematov, and the manager let it.
Market14 May 2029
The name of Shohruh Eshbo'tayev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings14 May 2029
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
Uneasy
Market7 May 2029
“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.
Market7 May 2029
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 May 2029
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.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ulug'bek Xudayberdiyev and Shortan agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islom Kenjaboyev, and the manager let it.
Squad7 May 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Shohruh Eshbo'tayev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match5 May 2029
It needed G'anisher Qodirov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Bunyodkor, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 May 2029
A mark of 5.55 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Apr 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Islom Kenjaboyev. 4‑3 against Neftchi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Marked 8.65 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Marked 8.58 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Jasurbek Hakimov 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.
Market30 Apr 2029
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.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Zahaby Gholy changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Shortan had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Apr 2029
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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Sardorbek Saidov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Match21 Apr 2029
1‑2 to Sogdiana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Apr 2029
“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 ratings23 Apr 2029
Marked 8.34 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market23 Apr 2029
The name of Farruhbek Muxtorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Marked 5.39, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Match14 Apr 2029
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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“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.
Match14 Apr 2029
A bad afternoon for Shortan against Nasaf
0‑1 to Nasaf, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Every debut is a small story about the future: Abdulla Komilov, 16 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Market16 Apr 2029
The name of Shohruh Eshbo'tayev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
5.48 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
5.63 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Apr 2029
Shortan out of the cup
Bunyodkor ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market9 Apr 2029
Zahaby Gholy 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.
Match7 Apr 2029
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.
Market9 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Akmaljon Muzaffarov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shortan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Marked 8.87 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Diyorbek Haliyev 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Shohruh Eshbo'tayev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match7 Apr 2029
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“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 ratings2 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match31 Mar 2029
It needed Farruhbek Muxtorov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mashal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Shohruh Eshbo'tayev. Shortan will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Mar 2029
70 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Pakhtakor left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“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 terraces26 Mar 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Squad26 Mar 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shortan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad19 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Mar 2029
Shortan come up short against Obod
Obod left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdulla Komilov commits to Shortan for another 3 years.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“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.
Market19 Mar 2029
The name of Shohruh Eshbo'tayev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
5.57 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Mar 2029
“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.
Market12 Mar 2029
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 Mar 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 9.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match10 Mar 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Farruhbek Muxtorov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Shortan.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timur Nematov commits to Shortan for another 3 years.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“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
The terraces5 Mar 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Shohruh Eshbo'tayev and Shortan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market5 Mar 2029
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nodir Fayzullaev is a Shortan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market5 Mar 2029
The shirt still fits. Farhod Akhmedov 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.
Market5 Mar 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market5 Mar 2029
As if he never left: Amir Komilov returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Amir Komilov is a Shortan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad5 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Mar 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Feb 2029
98 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islom Kenjaboyev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Al-Nahdi and Shortan agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
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.
Market12 Feb 2029
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 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“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.
Market12 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Farruhbek Muxtorov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A season on the outside for Ashkan Azmoun
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Shortan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ashkan Azmoun and Shortan agree another 3 years.
Market5 Feb 2029
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Jasurbek Hakimov 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A new face in his position, and Iskandar Shayqulov suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Shortan have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market5 Feb 2029
Shortan spent the window trying to move Sardorbek Saidov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Jan 2029
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“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.
Market29 Jan 2029
Bukhara are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Shortan will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Tagiev, and the manager let it.
Market29 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islom Kenjaboyev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Jan 2029
The name of Shohruh Eshbo'tayev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shortan say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 Jan 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sardorbek Saidov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Nikita Tagiev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Tagiev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
Shortan keep producing them
11 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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.
Market15 Jan 2029
Metallurg pay $32.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad8 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shortan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Jan 2029
The phone has started ringing about Youssef Al-Nahdi again, and this time the name on the line is Bali United. Shortan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market8 Jan 2029
Metallurg are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Shortan will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iskandar Shayqulov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market8 Jan 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Shohjahon Abdumannonov has his answer from Shortan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shortan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Shohruh Eshbo'tayev 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 Jan 2029
Shortan will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Dec 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
Squad25 Dec 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
Uneasy
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
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.
Market18 Dec 2028
Sota Minami 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islom Kenjaboyev and Shortan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.