From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Marked 8.01 — 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 ratings19 Mar 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.
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.
Match17 Mar 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad19 Mar 2029
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Tobol have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Market19 Mar 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tobol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad19 Mar 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Squad12 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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 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.
Market12 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.
Market12 Mar 2029
The shirt still fits. Baurzhan Baizhanov is back at Tobol, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market12 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 9.93 — 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 ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Mar 2029
A 1‑0 win over Okzhetpes, 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
Steady
Market5 Mar 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zikrillo Sūltaniiazov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tobol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pape-Alioune N'Diaye commits to Tobol for another 3 years.
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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$229.5K on the table at Tobol
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad5 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.
Market5 Mar 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nauryzbek Zhagorov signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Feb 2029
Tobol refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 39 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market26 Feb 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tobol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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
The name of Timur Abiken has come up in conversations Tobol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Feb 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
The name of Däuren Jūmat keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Feb 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 Tobol can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad19 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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Feb 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Tobol will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad19 Feb 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.
Market19 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Asrankulov signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Feb 2029
Tobol say no — this time
The offer from Taraz for Erbol Logvinenko was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market12 Feb 2029
Tobol get their man
The chase for Miras Umaniiazov ended with $460.0K changing hands and Zhetysu out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Brandon Obiero
“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 Feb 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Mitrofanov and Tobol agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Feb 2029
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Tobol will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Feb 2029
Tobol get their man
The chase for Denis Mitrofanov ended with $670.0K changing hands and Kairat out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brandon Obiero commits to Tobol for another 2 years.
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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Feb 2029
Everyone has stopped pretending: Shakhter will make the call about Zikrillo Sūltaniiazov this week. Tobol have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
$229.5K on the table at Tobol
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Jan 2029
Tobol refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 39 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tobol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tobol have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market29 Jan 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Tobol will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market29 Jan 2029
The name of Däuren Jūmat keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Tobol
Uroš Milovanović 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Asrankulov signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market22 Jan 2029
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Tobol could ask drops and the wages Aleksandr Marochkin can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 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 Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Myakish, and the manager let it.
Market15 Jan 2029
The name of Uroš Milovanović keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tobol would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 Jan 2029
7 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Tobol money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$229.5K on the table at Tobol
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Jan 2029
Tobol refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 39 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Tobol have had the benefit of it.
Market1 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandr Marochkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tobol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
The name of Däuren Jūmat keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tobol would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Roman Asrankulov 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
“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.
Market25 Dec 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Asrankulov signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Marochkin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
32 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Brandon Obiero
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Dec 2028
Tobol up to position 3
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tobol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Askhat Tağybergen and Tobol agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Tobol release $229.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Market4 Dec 2028
The name of Däuren Jūmat keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
Market4 Dec 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tobol, another week without a signature from Lindokuhle Mthimkulu.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tobol will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad27 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Myakish, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Maxim Myakish 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
The name of Uroš Milovanović keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Marked 5.52, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
Tobol keep producing them
10 graduates from an academy now rated 9 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
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
61 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Nov 2028
Tobol up to position 3
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market6 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tobol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Rinat Taykenov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Tobol release $229.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tobol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market30 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Asrankulov signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Oct 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 Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Market23 Oct 2028
The name of Uroš Milovanović keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Uroš Milovanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
90 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Obiero, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Oct 2028
Tobol are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 39 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market9 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandr Marochkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tobol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nemanja Cavnić and Tobol agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Marochkin, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Maxim Myakish 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 Maxim Myakish trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tobol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nemanja Cavnić commits to Tobol for another 2 years.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
$229.5K on the table at Tobol
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Migunov, and the manager let it.
Market2 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Asrankulov signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Sep 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 Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Sep 2028
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Sep 2028
Tobol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Tobol did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Sep 2028
Tobol up to position 3
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Sep 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tobol have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market11 Sep 2028
The Däuren Jūmat story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Däuren Jūmat signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A mark of 5.50 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Askhat Tağybergen joins up with his country. Tobol lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Tobol that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Market11 Sep 2028
The window shut and Aleksandr Marochkin is still in the building
Tobol spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Aug 2028
Tobol out of the cup
Astana ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad4 Sep 2028
21 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match30 Aug 2028
4 matches without a win for Tobol
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Tobol are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleksandr Migunov commits to Tobol for another 4 years.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Milovanović, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Tobol release $229.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tobol can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Uroš Milovanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch28 Aug 2028
“I did not go to Persija to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tobol and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
Market28 Aug 2028
Experience through the door at Tobol
Julani Archibald arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market28 Aug 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Milovanović signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tobol would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Market21 Aug 2028
Shakhter pay $100.0K, 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Migunov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Aug 2028
Tobol up to position 3
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Uroš Milovanović
21 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings7 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Obiero, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
Tobol release $229.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Match5 Aug 2028
It needed Uroš Milovanović to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Taraz, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Abdoulaye Cissé will call it something else in private.
Market7 Aug 2028
The name of Roman Asrankulov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Roman Asrankulov 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 8.50 — 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 ratings31 Jul 2028
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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
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.
Loan watch31 Jul 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tobol, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad31 Jul 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Tobol pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Shots: 8. 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
Upbeat
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Jul 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
A defender's afternoon for Ahmed Said
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.94 on the card, and the Tobol support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match22 Jul 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Astana will be the happier side with the point.
Squad24 Jul 2028
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Tobol will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Brandon Obiero 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 Brandon Obiero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match15 Jul 2028
5‑0, and Uroš Milovanović took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Tobol tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match17 Jul 2028
Tobol up to position 2
37 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad17 Jul 2028
The match ball belongs to Uroš Milovanović, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Jul 2028
20 goals and a season average of 7.28. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
A defender's afternoon for Maxim Myakish
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
A performance of 9.93 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
NK Domzale arrived with $2.4M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
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.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
One of those days for Ahmed Said
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Jul 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ahmed Said. 2‑0 against Zhetysu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Jul 2028
24 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Marked 8.23 — 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 ratings10 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tobol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nauryzbek Zhagorov and Tobol agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Jul 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pape-Alioune N'Diaye, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
$229.5K on the table at Tobol
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Loan watch3 Jul 2028
“I watch every Tobol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persija runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Jun 2028
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Uroš Milovanović obliged against Ordabasy. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Tobol.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market26 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Daniil Ustimenko again, and this time the name on the line is NK Domzale. Tobol are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market26 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done: Merei Zhambyl joins from Taraz in a deal worth $230.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings26 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.86, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Jun 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nauryzbek Zhagorov. 1‑0 against Atyrau, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Marked 8.43 — 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
Upbeat
Match19 Jun 2028
Tobol are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 28 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Jun 2028
A 2‑0 win over Akzhaiyk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
A performance of 8.78 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
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 ratings19 Jun 2028
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Jun 2028
A bad afternoon for Tobol against Ordabasy
1‑2 to Ordabasy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 55 days on the sidelines for Baurzhan Postnikov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market12 Jun 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Ustimenko signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Jun 2028
Tobol make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tobol have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
A performance of 9.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match3 Jun 2028
Three points for Tobol, 2‑1 the final word against Shakhter in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luna Iwamoto, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
$229.5K on the table at Tobol
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Loan watch5 Jun 2028
“I watch every Tobol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persija runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Jun 2028
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
Match27 May 2028
Whatever happens, Tobol do not lose
14 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings29 May 2028
Defensive actions: 21, 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 ratings29 May 2028
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match27 May 2028
Three points for Tobol, 1‑0 the final word against Okzhetpes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Said, and the manager let it.
The terraces29 May 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Marko Vukčević
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 May 2028
Still nobody has beaten Tobol
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match22 May 2028
Tobol are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Uroš Milovanović 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.
Match20 May 2028
Three points for Tobol, 2‑1 the final word against Taraz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Marko Vukčević
“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 May 2028
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market22 May 2028
The Däuren Jūmat story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Däuren Jūmat signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad22 May 2028
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Askhat Tağybergen has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Tobol know, and have known for weeks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 May 2028
Still nobody has beaten Tobol
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match13 May 2028
No end in sight to Tobol's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tobol has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 May 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
83 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad15 May 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 May 2028
Whatever happens, Tobol do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match6 May 2028
6 matches without a win for Tobol
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Tobol are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Askhat Tağybergen and Tobol agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 May 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Apr 2028
Whatever happens, Tobol do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad1 May 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match29 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Tobol's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tobol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 May 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings1 May 2028
A performance of 9.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Apr 2028
Honours even between Tobol and Kairat
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Apr 2028
Tobol are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 13 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Apr 2028
Still nobody has beaten Tobol
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match22 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Tobol
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Roman Asrankulov 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 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Vukčević, and the manager let it.
Match22 Apr 2028
Tobol and Zhetysu take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces24 Apr 2028
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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The Däuren Jūmat story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Däuren Jūmat signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Apr 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match15 Apr 2028
Still nobody has beaten Tobol
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings17 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Askhat Tağybergen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Apr 2028
Tobol and Irtysh take a point apiece
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Tobol lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Squad17 Apr 2028
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
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Apr 2028
Cup progress for Tobol
A 0‑0 win over Okzhetpes, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad10 Apr 2028
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Daniil Ustimenko: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match8 Apr 2028
Whatever happens, Tobol do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Milovanović, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A defender's afternoon for Maxim Myakish
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Apr 2028
Tobol make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tobol have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Three points for Tobol, 1‑0 the final word against Akzhaiyk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Yair Mordechai
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Tobol will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad27 Mar 2028
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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match25 Mar 2028
Ordabasy made Tobol work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 27, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roman Asrankulov and Tobol agree another 4 years.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Mar 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Uroš Milovanović’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tobol.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
“I watch every Tobol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persija runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match11 Mar 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Okzhetpes leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The terraces13 Mar 2028
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 ratings13 Mar 2028
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad13 Mar 2028
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
Market6 Mar 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 Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Market6 Mar 2028
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.
Market6 Mar 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Baurzhan Postnikov is a Tobol player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market6 Mar 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Aibol Logvinenko is a Tobol player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad6 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Feb 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market28 Feb 2028
The Däuren Jūmat story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Däuren Jūmat signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Uroš Milovanović keeps the shirt for now, at Tobol's convenience rather than his own.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Mohammad Buzairi 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
Steady
Market21 Feb 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Luna Iwamoto 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Uroš Milovanović’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market21 Feb 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A new face in his position, and Uroš Milovanović suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Tobol have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Noam Ben-Harush 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Luna Iwamoto 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniil Ustimenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Uroš Milovanović keeps the shirt for now, at Tobol's convenience rather than his own.
Market14 Feb 2028
Tobol have made Aleksandr Marochkin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tobol would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Abdoulaye Cissé has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tobol.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Tair Nurseitov
“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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Roman Asrankulov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Tobol will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Ordabasy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luna Iwamoto. The answer from Tobol has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Jan 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Aleksandr Marochkin has his answer from Tobol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad31 Jan 2028
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Tobol will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market31 Jan 2028
Okzhetpes are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Tobol will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market31 Jan 2028
The Däuren Jūmat story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Däuren Jūmat signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Jan 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Roman Asrankulov 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniil Ustimenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Askhat Tağybergen’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Luis Guerra, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jan 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tobol will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gafurzhan Tymoshchuk and Tobol agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
Luna Iwamoto: 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.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Noam Ben-Harush 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tair Nurseitov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Zuev signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tobol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Dec 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Marochkin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Roman Asrankulov 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 Nov 2027
Luna Iwamoto 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.
Market29 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Milovanović signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 Nov 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tobol will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tobol, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Tobol that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“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.
Market8 Nov 2027
The name of Kirill Gluschenkov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tobol say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Noam Ben-Harush 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
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 Oct 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noam Ben-Harush trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tobol, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tobol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Alexandr Zuev joins up with his country. Tobol lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Askhat Tağybergen commits to Tobol for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Oct 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Milovanović signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gafurzhan Tymoshchuk, and the manager let it.
Market27 Sep 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Ustimenko signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Uroš Milovanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Tair Nurseitov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Sep 2027
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
Noam Ben-Harush: 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.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Sep 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Aug 2027
The name of Gafurzhan Tymoshchuk has come up in conversations Tobol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Luna Iwamoto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Noam Ben-Harush 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Tobol will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Gluschenkov, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nauryzbek Zhagorov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Pape-Alioune N'Diaye, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Marochkin, and the manager let it.
Market9 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Milovanović signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Däuren Jūmat has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Däuren Jūmat keeps the shirt for now, at Tobol's convenience rather than his own.
Market9 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tobol, another week without a signature from Sūltan Būsyrmanov.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Aug 2027
Tobol say no — this time
The offer from Hapoel Haifa for Gafurzhan Tymoshchuk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Marko Vukčević 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Beibit Ğalym. 2‑0 against Taraz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Marked 8.11 — 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 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The team sheet said everything about Kirill Gluschenkov
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Kirill Gluschenkov.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tobol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Jul 2027
Uroš Milovanović scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Aktobe, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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 ratings26 Jul 2027
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Tobol needed to.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Alexandr Zuev is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.20 with 1 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
5.62 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
Steady
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Jul 2027
Tobol come up short against Astana
Astana left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The team sheet said everything about Marko Vukčević
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marko Vukčević.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Ahmed Said
“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 Jul 2027
Shots: 5. 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
Steady
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Jul 2027
Uroš Milovanović scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Kairat, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The team sheet said everything about Ahmed Said
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ahmed Said.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Tobol
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Luna Iwamoto 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.
Match3 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pape-Alioune N'Diaye. 1‑0 against Zhetysu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Jul 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Tobol pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Market5 Jul 2027
Tobol have made Luna Iwamoto available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Jun 2027
Tobol are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 28 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market28 Jun 2027
Tobol say no — this time
The offer from Ordabasy for Beibit Ğalym was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match26 Jun 2027
7 unbeaten for Tobol
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Tobol did not have in the autumn.
Market28 Jun 2027
Tobol get their man
The chase for Tair Nurseitov ended with $200.0K changing hands and Taraz out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Jun 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uroš Milovanović. 3‑1 against Irtysh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
Tobol say no — this time
The offer from Kairat for Alexandr Zuev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market21 Jun 2027
Tobol get their man
The chase for Gafurzhan Tymoshchuk ended with $660.0K changing hands and Akzhaiyk out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Taraz pay $760.0K, 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.
Match19 Jun 2027
6 unbeaten for Tobol
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Tobol did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Ordabasy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Beibit Ğalym. The answer from Tobol has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aditya Sentosa, and the manager let it.
Match19 Jun 2027
Tobol and Atyrau take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tobol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match12 Jun 2027
Akzhaiyk made Tobol work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Marked 8.06 — 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Gluschenkov, and the manager let it.
Market14 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Milovanović signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 9.21 — 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Marko Vukčević
“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 ratings7 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Wages eat 86% of everything Tobol 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Tobol will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Shots: 5, 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
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 May 2027
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.
Match29 May 2027
A 2‑0 win over Shakhter, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandr Marochkin, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
1 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zikrillo Sūltaniiazov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
Erbol Nuserbayev: 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.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Askhat Tağybergen 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 May 2027
Luna Iwamoto 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 ratings24 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.80 on the card, and the Tobol support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings24 May 2027
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
Steady
Match15 May 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A defender's afternoon for Maxim Myakish
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Asrankulov, and the manager let it.
Market17 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Milovanović signs something — a contract at Tobol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad17 May 2027
Aditya Sentosa 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 Aditya Sentosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings10 May 2027
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.
Match8 May 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Askhat Postnikov: 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.” Tobol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tobol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 May 2027
Three points for Tobol, 2‑1 the final word against Astana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.71, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad3 May 2027
Däuren Jūmat finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Tobol have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Market3 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Amine Talal’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
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Boardroom
Tobol were not finished after all
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The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Däuren Jūmat
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Apr 2027
7 matches without a win for Tobol
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Tobol are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Tobol
Marko Vukčević 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 ratings26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Milovanović, and the manager let it.
Match24 Apr 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kairat defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
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.