Jorginho 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.
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 Taron Voskanyan is on it.
Jorginho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Lopes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kalifala Doumbia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Jorginho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Shunto Kanda and Gandzasar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ricardo Lopes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gandzasar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Jorginho 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 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.
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 João Nóbrega is on it.
Ivan Markelov is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gandzasar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ethan Lizalda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Renan is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Lopes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Grêmio keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jorginho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Avanesyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gandzasar, another week without a signature from Zé Mateus.
14 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filipe Alves trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Gandzasar would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The offer from Urartu for Bertrand Mani 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gandzasar have done the hard part with Grêmio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Athletico Paranaense is saying, and nobody at Gandzasar is enjoying the guessing.
Jorginho 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.
25 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Ararat-Armenia go through and Gandzasar go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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.
1 for Annan Mensah, marked 7.00, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Athletico Paranaense is saying, and nobody at Gandzasar is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ricardo Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gandzasar asked and Coritiba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Gandzasar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Coritiba, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Jorginho 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.
Gandzasar asked and Urartu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Ismail Ben Diyad has come up in conversations Gandzasar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
13 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ethan Lizalda 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.
Jorginho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ricardo Lopes 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.
Gandzasar asked and Brasil de Pelotas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edgar Bayramyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edgar Hovhannisyan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artur Grigoryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iarley Barros was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Fernando Mendes could afford to be generous.
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Wellington Tanque leaves América de Natal the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Seryozha Urushanyan has, at Gandzasar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ricardo Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gandzasar, another week without a signature from Filipe Alves.
Gandzasar have made the call to Coritiba. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Gandzasar have made the call to Brasil de Pelotas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.