Marked for Cavid Mammadov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Anger at AZAL spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market16 Aug 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market16 Aug 2027
AZAL say no — this time
The offer from Zira for Agil Huseynov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 23 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
Graduation day at AZAL
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rahid Amirguliyev
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Aug 2027
AZAL say no — this time
The offer from Siah Jamegan for Cavid Mammadov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Afran Nazarov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Cédric Gasser 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Afran Nazarov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dimitrij Bayramov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dimitrij Nadirov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Pressure builds in the AZAL boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Vugar Jafarov 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at AZAL
Qara Ozobic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tamkin Guseynov, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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. Emin Madatov has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rahid Amirguliyev
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at AZAL
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AZAL is running low.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Yenisey is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
Squad5 Jul 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at AZAL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Gasser was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 Jun 2027
The mood at AZAL has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market21 Jun 2027
Lokomotivi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AZAL did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Afran Nazarov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
AZAL have gone to Yenisey with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Vugar Jafarov 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at AZAL
Qara Ozobic 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
Cédric Gasser is still paying for one afternoon at AZAL
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cavid Khalilzade
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
Vugar Jafarov 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.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at AZAL
Qara Ozobic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at AZAL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Gasser was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at AZAL
Namig Ozobic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nerves in the AZAL squad
Gennady Potapov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Cédric Gasser 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at AZAL
Namig Ozobic 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
International break empties AZAL
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cavid Mammadov, and the manager let it.
Market22 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AZAL know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Gasser 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Qara Ozobic 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Qara Huseynov
“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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Cavid Mammadov 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 Cavid Mammadov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A new face in his position, and Gennady Potapov suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. AZAL have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Supporters organise against the AZAL board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Gasser 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 Mar 2027
A falling-out at AZAL
Tamkin Guseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Cédric Gasser is still paying for one afternoon at AZAL
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Richard Mammadov 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 dugout1 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Cavid Mammadov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Richard Mammadov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Qara Ozobic 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Afran Nazarov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AZAL say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at AZAL says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Feb 2027
AZAL are in real trouble now
Position 9, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at AZAL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Gasser was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Feb 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ermis will make the call about Cavid Mammadov this week. AZAL have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 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 AZAL would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Afran Sheydaev is 34, with 0 appearances behind him, and AZAL will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nerves in the AZAL squad
Afran Nazarov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Market8 Feb 2027
The name of Namig Ozobic keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AZAL say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at AZAL until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Djoliba is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at AZAL
Richard Mammadov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Ermis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cavid Mammadov. The answer from AZAL has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Gasser 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 targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Gian Piaggio is in the works
AZAL have made the call to Colón. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Racing Club: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Obod keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Noah have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at AZAL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vugar Jafarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at AZAL
Qara Ozobic 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Djoliba: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Trabzonspor have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout25 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for AZAL
Position 9 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Gennady Potapov again, and this time the name on the line is Saburtalo. AZAL are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zira have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Cédric Gasser 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at AZAL
Qara Ozobic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for AZAL
Position 9 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match14 Dec 2026
Full time on the season at AZAL
Position 9 on 13 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
At last: AZAL win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Gabala. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match12 Dec 2026
AZAL get the job done against Gabala
A 2‑1 win over Gabala, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
He is 23 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.64 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Vugar Jafarov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
AZAL come up short against Zira
Zira left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Qara Ozobic 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Afran Nazarov at his very best
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AZAL.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 1‑3 Araz Ramazanov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Qara Huseynov dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Cavid Mammadov 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 Cavid Mammadov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Oct 2026
The Namig Ozobic story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Namig Ozobic signs something — a contract at AZAL or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
At last: AZAL win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Ravan. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Qara Ozobic 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samir Khalilzade 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Afran Nazarov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AZAL.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Dimitrij Nazarov at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AZAL.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Araz Ramazanov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Cavid Mammadov is still paying for one afternoon at AZAL
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Sep 2026
A hiding for AZAL
Beaten 1‑5 by Qarabag, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match21 Sep 2026
AZAL sink to position 9
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for AZAL
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at AZAL
Qara Ozobic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AZAL and Qarabag in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Samir Khalilzade 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Afran Nazarov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.