“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Van-2 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vahe Muradyan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Van-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Van-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Narek Manukyan’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vahe Muradyan signs something — a contract at Van-2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Van-2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Van-2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Van-2 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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. Mauro has moved up it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Van-2 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakob 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Van-2 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bentonit Ijevan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Bentonit Ijevan know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bentonit Ijevan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bentonit Ijevan is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Syunik.
Something was said to Mauro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Syunik next, and one man in the Bentonit Ijevan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bentonit Ijevan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bentonit Ijevan close the window on a squad of their own making
32 in and 17 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bentonit Ijevan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
It needed Narek Khachatryan to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Ararat-Armenia-2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Bentonit Ijevan have made the call to Noah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bentonit Ijevan have made the call to Van. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mkhitar Movsisyan after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.