74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pyunik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Daniil Kulikov is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Pyunik would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until James signs something — a contract at Pyunik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vayanga 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.
Nobody at Pyunik 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Diego Ivo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until James signs something — a contract at Pyunik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The words a physio says slowly. 137 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Something was said to Hovhannes Harutyunyan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Pyunik will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Daniil Kulikov is on it.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until James signs something — a contract at Pyunik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 167 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pyunik can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sacachispas is saying, and nobody at Pyunik is enjoying the guessing.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Ivo is still being punished for one mistake
“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 Pyunik, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hovhannes Harutyunyan 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 Pyunik 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Diego Ivo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until James signs something — a contract at Pyunik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4 on 30 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hovhannes Harutyunyan 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.
Marked 7.93 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pyunik had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sargis Adamyan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Daniil Kulikov is on it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
0‑3 to Gandzasar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Alemão and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hovhannes Harutyunyan 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.
“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; Pyunik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Joe Whitworth and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
1‑2 to Alashkert, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sargis Adamyan to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Bruno Pinto
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Artak Dashyan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pyunik needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Position 3, 10 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.
Sergiy Vakulenko 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.
Noah left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Momo Yansané 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Bruno Pinto
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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 Alemão is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Alashkert in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Sargis Metoyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Momo Yansané 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Pyunik 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pyunik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Pyunik the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
Looking aheadAn away day at Shirak next for Pyunik
Sergiy Vakulenko 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pyunik know it.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Levon Hovhannisyan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ararat-Armenia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
“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 Pyunik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pyunik close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal that would have taken Levon Hovhannisyan to Andranik has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Pyunik with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hovhannes Harutyunyan 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“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 Pyunik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alemão 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matas Vareika 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sturm Graz have kept their man, and Pyunik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Something was said to Sergiy Vakulenko and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Pyunik have made the call to Lincoln City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pyunik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Witi is on it.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Pyunik know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Pyunik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kairat, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hovhannes Harutyunyan 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.
Sargis Metoyan 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.
Nobody at Pyunik 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pyunik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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. Pyunik will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pyunik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Alemão 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.
Pyunik have made the call to Keciorengucu. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Something was said to Sargis Metoyan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Matas Vareika has moved up it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pyunik has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pyunik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Alemão 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 Hovhannes Harutyunyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Pyunik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hovhannes Harutyunyan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pyunik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Alemão 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 Hovhannes Harutyunyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Pyunik know which stage they are at.
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.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pyunik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pyunik will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 20 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 Pyunik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Alemão is on it.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pyunik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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; Pyunik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 words a physio says slowly. 158 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. BATE moved on, Daniil Kulikov reports back to Pyunik, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
Pyunik asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Vayanga Doumbia is 20, and Pyunik have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Pyunik know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Pyunik asked and Shirak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sergiy Vakulenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The offer went to América Mineiro this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hovhannes Harutyunyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.