Marked for Alan Bento
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qara Garayev 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Ravan come up short against Kapaz
Kapaz left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dimitrij Madatov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout18 Oct 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.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Inter in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Sep 2027
Ravan sink to position 9
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“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 Ravan know it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Ravan
Afran Huseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Qara Garayev 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Ravan against Zira
1‑2 to Zira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Bento and Ravan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Dimitrij Madatov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Bento, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Chriso knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chriso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Jordan Rezabala out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ravan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market9 Aug 2027
Emin Nazarov 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 Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Ravan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chriso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Aug 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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“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; Ravan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
39 days out for Jordan Rezabala after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ravan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match2 Aug 2027
Ravan are in real trouble now
Position 9, 16 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 terraces2 Aug 2027
The mood at Ravan has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market2 Aug 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 Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ravan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Ravan
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ravan is running low.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ravan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Chriso 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Qara Garayev 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
Market14 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ravan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market14 Jun 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 Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Ravan offered $610.0K; Zira said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Ravan asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Ravan
Agil Ozobic 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qara Garayev 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A quiet fortnight at Ravan
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Qarabag: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Serpa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ravan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 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 Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Afran Huseynov 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Alan Bento arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alan Bento has, at Ravan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Ravan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mamadou Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mamadou Diarra, and the manager let it.
Market24 May 2027
Noah Moulin is 19, and Ravan 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.
Market24 May 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Ravan signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout24 May 2027
Diogo Cruz knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravan, and both men came out saying it was fine.