Marked for Nicholas Kaloukian
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Urartu have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market14 Jun 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Jun 2027
Urartu end the wait against Van
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Urartu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Urartu
Bruno Michel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Jun 2027
Three points for Urartu, 1‑0 the final word against Van in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Piloyan 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Gor Matinyan
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Squad
4 Urartu players away with their countries
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Ian Trufanov is in the works
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Urartu's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Urartu has to find a result from somewhere.
Market7 Jun 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Urartu did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Urartu
Bruno Michel 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Urartu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zhirayr Margaryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bruno Michel has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Urartu.
The dugout7 Jun 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 Grigor Hovhannisyan to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Sport Recife: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
Urartu say no — this time
The offer from Gandzasar for Alexandr Mishiev 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Urartu have done the hard part with Van, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Matthew Corran is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ararat have kept their man, and Urartu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Urartu
Petik Manukyan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Urartu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gor Lulukyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.