Marked for Luke Merrill
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
Hagai Katoh 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Serrano 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luke Merrill, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Oct 2027
Gandzasar are in real trouble now
Position 10, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
Anger at Gandzasar spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Hagai Katoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Oct 2027
João Nóbrega 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Hagai Katoh 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Takafumi Sawada 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Gandzasar boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taron Voskanyan and Gandzasar agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Hagai Katoh 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Luke Merrill, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Martin Grigoryan 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
At 35, 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
Market6 Sep 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 Gandzasar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 59 days on the sidelines for Luke Merrill, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Hagai Katoh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Aug 2027
Every point is an argument now for Gandzasar
Position 10 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
Anger at Gandzasar spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Hagai Katoh 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
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Grigoryan 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
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
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gandzasar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Brendi Malaj is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Hagai Katoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
Valdemar Grymer damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
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 Gandzasar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Hagai Katoh 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2027
15 matches without a win for Gandzasar
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Gandzasar are no longer polite ones.
Market31 May 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 Gandzasar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
Mariano Ahouangbo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 May 2027
Urartu left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 May 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.
Squad31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gandzasar told Jens Aslaksrud something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad31 May 2027
Luke Merrill 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A mark of 5.49 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Gandzasar's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gandzasar has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Apr 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 Gandzasar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Apr 2027
The goals have deserted Gandzasar
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gandzasar can tell you which week it ends in.
Match17 Apr 2027
Ararat left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of João Nóbrega
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke Merrill 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A mark of 5.70 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.