Marked for David Dokhoyan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Market1 May 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Mika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 May 2028
Tempers go at Mika
Alik Arakelyan 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Mika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Kochkanyan 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Marked 7.31. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout1 May 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout1 May 2028
“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.
Match29 Apr 2028
Point won or two lost for Mika?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Andranik? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mika will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stepan Sahradyan
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Urartu keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
At 19 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Wages eat 156% of everything Mika earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
No signings allowed at Mika
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mika, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Feb 2028
The name of Akhmed Jindoyan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mika say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Mika
Florian Brügmann 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
David Dokhoyan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Mika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alik Arakelyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vardan Arzoyan, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Belts tighten at Mika
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Florian Brügmann asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Noah-2 next, and one man in the Mika dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market29 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mika know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Pressure builds in the Mika boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Mika will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
David Dokhoyan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Mika
Aram Loretsyan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Mika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alik Arakelyan 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.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Leo Reis is in the works
Mika have made the call to Gandzasar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Mika counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mika now.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Vardan Arzoyan asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
In brief
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Boardroom
$231.1K taken back off the Mika table
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Boardroom
Open for business: Mika enter the window
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Market
Mika and Alen Vardanyan are talking past each other
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Mika
Sergey Kochkanyan 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Mika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Suren Arakelyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
7 new faces, and Mika are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market7 Dec 2026
He is 19, and nobody at Mika signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Mika counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mika now.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mika. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market7 Dec 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Yusuf Mannase gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yusuf Mannase has just signed for Mika, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sergey Kochkanyan 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Hovik Nersesyan
“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.
Market23 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market23 Nov 2026
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market23 Nov 2026
He is 19, and nobody at Mika signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Vaspurak Minasyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mika 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.