Marked for Samir Amirguliyev
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces11 Sep 2028
The mood at Akron 2 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
The bid was some way short and Akron 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Akron 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Akron 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Solovjov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“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.
Market11 Sep 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Akron 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
Artem Grigorjev 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 Sep 2028
Words at Akron 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fedor Fenin 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 dugout4 Sep 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 Sep 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ufa will make the call about Gocha Gogrichiani this week. Akron 2 have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“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 Akron 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Aug 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 Akron 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Akron 2
Artem Grigorjev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Akron 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fedor Fenin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Everybody at Akron 2 saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Fedor Fenin 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 Fedor Fenin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akron 2 told Maxim Nedomoratskov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Aug 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Akron
Ivan Zlobin 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Bistrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Karlen Hovhannisyan 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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Aug 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Alexandr Dolgov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akron.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Marked 8.23 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Akron can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Akron 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.
Market5 Jun 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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Akron
Maxim Boldyrev 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Bistrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Jun 2028
26 games and 0 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daan Vekemans, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Marat Bokoev without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Marat Bokoev was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Aleksa Đurasović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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
Crisis
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Ravan and Khazar have settled on $120.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Jeimes’s move to Ravan collapses on the table
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Sumgayit; Ravan go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agil Madatov 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yefim Kartashov commits to Ravan for another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Ravan
8 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Javid Guseynov 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Qarabag: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market9 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ravan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market9 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Agil Madatov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
Agil Madatov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
Gabala come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ravan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Qarabag, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Ravan
Rashad Guseynov 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Fernández 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Martínez and Ravan agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Renaldo Cephas is in the works
Ravan have made the call to Qarabag. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Jesse Debrah 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
Crisis
Match5 Jul 2027
Ravan sink to position 9
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ravan
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$50.0K settles it between the clubs for Maksim Medvedev
Inter have accepted the money. What Ravan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ravan have done the hard part with Khazar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Rashad Guseynov 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Fernández 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Ravan
Rashad Guseynov 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Ravan asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamran Nadirov 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Sumgayit: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Khazar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market28 Jun 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ravan, another week without a signature from Richard Medvedev.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Kamran Nadirov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Shahriyar Guseynov damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market17 May 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 Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Ravan
Samuel Lobato 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Ravan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragoljub Savić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Kamran Nadirov
“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.
Market17 May 2027
The clock does Afran Sheydaev’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ravan could ask drops and the wages Afran Sheydaev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ravan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 May 2027
Ravan are in real trouble now
Position 9, 7 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.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Ravan
Samuel Lobato and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jesse Debrah commits to Ravan for another 3 years.
Squad10 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ravan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout10 May 2027
Kamran Nadirov 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
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ruslan Khalilzade damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Supporters organise against the Ravan 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ravan
Salim Hashimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Ravan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Lobato was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Too much change too quickly at Ravan
10 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
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Inter waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ravan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Cruzeiro is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
No thanks: Həbib Hüşənov rejects the move
Ravan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gabala, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Ravan
Salim Hashimov 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 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Ravan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragoljub Savić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gabala have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
No place for Jesse Debrah in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ravan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Ravan
5 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.