Marked for Marc Ploner
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Pressure builds in the Hayq boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market2 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 Hayq can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hayq is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Jul 2029
Laçi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hayq did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad2 Jul 2029
França 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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The owner puts $317.3K into Hayq
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match30 Jun 2029
Bentonit Ijevan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Vilmos Borsos
“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
Uneasy
Match2 Jun 2029
17‑0, and Anton Orlov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hayq tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Anton Orlov takes the match ball home
5 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A day França will not forget
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The match ball belongs to Davi Alves, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match30 May 2029
The small margins put Hayq out
Out, 0‑2 to Pyunik, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
França, 34, rolls back the years — 10.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hayq
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.69 for the rest of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2029
“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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 May 2029
França 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.
Match12 May 2029
A bad afternoon for Hayq against Urartu-2
0‑1 to Urartu-2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom14 May 2029
Hayq are $8.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad14 May 2029
Tempers go at Hayq
Marc Ploner 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Juan Mangion to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Ploner, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2029
Davi Alves 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
Dylan Tawodzera has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hayq 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2029
Davi Alves in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hayq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Hayq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Tawodzera 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.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
Hayq are $8.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad12 Feb 2029
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Hayq will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Görkem Akdere, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market12 Feb 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hayq know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Jake Durrant 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 Jake Durrant trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Levon Ghazaryan has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hayq can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The Hayq board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Hayq close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 3 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Bence Babos gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bence Babos has just signed for Hayq, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Feb 2029
França 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The owner puts $287.3K into Hayq
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Hayq
Alen Mkrtchyan 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.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Dylan Tawodzera
“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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Too much change too quickly at Hayq
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Jan 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 Hayq can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Hayq
Anton Orlov 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 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and França was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
Wages swallow 143% of the Hayq income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
Hayq cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Urartu: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Hayq have made the call to Pyunik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A loan move for Tai Primc is in the works
Hayq have made the call to Pyunik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Marc Ploner gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Hayq
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hayq is running low.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and França was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Hayq
Marc Ploner 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.
Market25 Dec 2028
The Anton Orlov talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hayq know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Alen Mkrtchyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Hayq
Anton Orlov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Tawodzera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
Hayq are $8.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Marc Ploner gets it from the manager
“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 dugout11 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Tenyaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market11 Dec 2028
“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.
Market11 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexandr Tenyaev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match11 Dec 2028
Hayq have something to play for
Position 6 on 50 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Dec 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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Hayq
Anton Orlov 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Hayq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. França 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
$298.9K of the owner's money at Hayq
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
260% of the income goes out in wages at Hayq
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
No signings allowed at Hayq
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 dugout4 Dec 2028
“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.
Market4 Dec 2028
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Nov 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 Hayq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Hayq
França and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Isaac Drogba, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
13 new faces, and Hayq 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Hayq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Tawodzera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market20 Nov 2028
“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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Ruben Yesayan 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
Experience through the door at Hayq
Luis Alberto Lozoya arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Hayq
Erik Petrosyan 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
França 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Asiryan, and the manager let it.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The Hayq debt reaches $8.3M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Hayq are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad16 Oct 2028
França still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Hayq would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Marc Ploner 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 Marc Ploner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexandr Tenyaev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.