Marked for Khalil Sammani
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alashkert lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Jul 2029
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Miguel Silva obliged against BKMA. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Alashkert.
Market30 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Araks Ararat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market30 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match25 Jul 2029
Alashkert cannot stop winning
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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajally Drammeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Scherbitskiy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Marked 8.05 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Alashkert
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alashkert is running low.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Felipe Aguirre 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 dugout29 Nov 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.
Market29 Nov 2027
Malik Odeyinka comes back from a loan that worked
24 appearances and 134 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 99% of the Alashkert 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Gabriel Justino 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Alashkert are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
Edgar Piloyan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Edgar Piloyan is on it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Edgar Piloyan 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 Edgar Piloyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
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.
Market8 Nov 2027
Joseph Sabobo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Miguel Velosa 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Justino 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.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alashkert, and 10 appearances in 40 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mômô Fanyé Touré is on it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager's exit leaves Klaidher exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Klaidher is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Market8 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Nalbandyan signs something — a contract at Alashkert or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad8 Nov 2027
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 Alashkert would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Oct 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad1 Nov 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A brace, and Ali Babaei takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Babaei provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match1 Nov 2027
Sabail are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 21 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sabail may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Calazans 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 Sabail this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Sabail training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Oliveira 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
253% of the income goes out in wages at Sabail
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.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Khalil Sammani 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Vüsal Şabanov
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Renaldo Cephas at his very best
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Calazans at his very best
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Alashkert
Felipe Aguirre 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Alashkert
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajally Drammeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Jefinho wants to go home
“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 Alashkert know it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Jefinho wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Alashkert now know that too.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Sabail to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alashkert and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 36 matches say the rest.