The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ararat-2 had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Petros Alekyan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Ararat-2 know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ararat-2, another week without a signature from Marcel Cerezo.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcel Cerezo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
Position 9 on 38 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guy Félix Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Marcel Cerezo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Petros Alekyan 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 Oct 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
7.99, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ararat-2 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Armen Barseghyan, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ararat-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guy Félix Lima trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Aboubacar Ouattara 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ararat-2. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guy Félix Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aboubacar Ouattara. 1‑0 against Mika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Armen Barseghyan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guy Félix Lima trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Petros Alekyan 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ararat-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Petros Alekyan. 2‑0 against Noah-2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Armen Barseghyan kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ararat-2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Vitor Braga takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vitor Braga provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
A long trip to another club worth making
4-0, and a corner of somebody else's ground that made more noise than the rest of it put together. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them ever mentions it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Armen Barseghyan on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Petros Alekyan 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.
“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 Ararat-2 know it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Ararat-2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magno 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Guy Félix Lima has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.46, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Armen Barseghyan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Ararat-2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guy Félix Lima 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout2 Aug 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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Armen Barseghyan to a room that had heard them before.
Beaten 5 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Ararat-2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ararat-2 will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Armen Barseghyan after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Guy Félix Lima is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Artur Grigoryan has moved up it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ararat-2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7 goals in one match, Aboubacar Ouattara on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ararat-2 and Pyunik-2.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benik Hovhannisyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout21 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 1‑6 defeat, delivered by Armen Barseghyan to a room that had heard them before.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ararat-2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Benik Hovhannisyan 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ernest Kacou in the middle of it, and Shirak-2 unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petros Alekyan, and the manager let it.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Ararat-2's travelling support get something back at another club
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 2-1 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Petros Alekyan did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Chances created: 13. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Petros Alekyan did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A 1‑0 win over Noah-2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Armen Barseghyan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A mark of 8.55 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
61 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ararat-2 and Ararat-Armenia-2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Armen Barseghyan, on a 61‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
0‑8 against Lernayin Artsakh, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match1 May 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ararat-2 and Lernayin Artsakh in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Aboubacar Ouattara 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Armen Barseghyan after 0‑8, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Petros Alekyan has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ararat-2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Van-2 were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Benik Hovhannisyan 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Petros Alekyan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Armen Barseghyan, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ernest Kacou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadGuy Félix Lima, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ararat-2 and Urartu in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Armen Barseghyan after 0‑11, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Petros Alekyan had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Urartu-2 were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
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 6.04 for the rest of it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Aboubacar Ouattara has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑9 to Bentonit Ijevan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Ararat-2 and Bentonit Ijevan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑9, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat-2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ararat-2 can tell you which week it ends in.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Mar 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 0‑5 Armen Barseghyan left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ararat-2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑9 against Sardarapat, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Ararat-2 and Sardarapat, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ernest Kacou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat-2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Benik Hovhannisyan 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 competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Benik Hovhannisyan keeps the shirt for now, at Ararat-2's convenience rather than his own.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Ararat-2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ararat-2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Add another name to the list: Gandzasar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ernest Kacou. The answer from Ararat-2 has not changed — yet.
“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 Ararat-2 know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Ararat-2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ararat-2 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Guy Félix Lima has his answer from Ararat-2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ararat-2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Petros Alekyan 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ernest Kacou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.