Marked for Piervicenzo De Pace
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shirak can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
Robert Hakobyan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shirak have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shirak have done the hard part with Noah, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Shirak
Donald Kodia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2029
31 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sargis Metoyan 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.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Shirak 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.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
Mher Tarloyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shirak 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.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 May 2029
A falling-out at Shirak
Rafik Misakyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Shirak
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sargis Metoyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 May 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 May 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Ardit Peposhi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout28 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Shestopalov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 May 2029
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.
Match26 May 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Pyunik will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead28 May 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hakob Hakobyan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shirak needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Oct 2028
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shirak lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Shirak
Sargis Metoyan 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 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Shirak
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakob Hakobyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hakob Hakobyan, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Mher Tarloyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shirak 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
The name of Narek Janoyan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shirak say nothing, which says plenty.