Marked for Caleb
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Gandzasar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Nóbrega was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Annan Mensah in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gandzasar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luca Meirelles is on it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mariano Ahouangbo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Caleb 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” João Nóbrega and Gandzasar agree another 4 years.
Squad26 Oct 2026
João Nóbrega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Annan Mensah falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Gandzasar
19 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market26 Oct 2026
The João Nóbrega story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Nóbrega signs something — a contract at Gandzasar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Hagai Katoh has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gandzasar will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
-
The dugout
Caleb asks for a word with the manager
-
The dugout
The manager comes out for Bertrand Mani
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Caleb
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gandzasar is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Annan Mensah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Luca Meirelles falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ararat have kept their man, and Gandzasar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Pablo Diogo 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 Sep 2026
Gandzasar are still strangers to each other
16 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Caleb 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Gandzasar know which stage they are at.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Rafael Nadal keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gandzasar say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Gandzasar until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Gandzasar
João Nóbrega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Meirelles is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and Gandzasar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pablo Diogo and Gandzasar agree another 3 years.
Market7 Sep 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Artem Avanesyan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
Bertrand Mani hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gandzasar can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Mineiro have kept their man, and Gandzasar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Mika have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Leo Reis. The answer from Gandzasar has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Gandzasar
Hagai Katoh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The formation has left Caleb behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Gandzasar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
When it matters, Hagai Katoh plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Gandzasar
2‑2 against Ararat, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 2026
Urartu come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gandzasar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Kalifala Doumbia at 21 — 8.02
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kalifala Doumbia did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kalifala Doumbia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Aug 2026
A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rodrigo Basso and Atlético CP agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Catarino Pascoal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Kevin Pérez is in the works
Atlético CP have made the call to Junior. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Pedro Balotelli is in the works
Atlético CP have made the call to Novorizontino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlético CP, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Délcio Fernandes leaves Atlético CP the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market3 Aug 2026
Caleb leaves for nothing
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Caleb leaves Atlético CP the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market3 Aug 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Renato Santos leaves Atlético CP the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.