Marked for Richard Ramazanov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Ravan's wait for a win
26 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ravan has to find a result from somewhere.
Match20 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ravan
Position 10 and 1 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.
Match15 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Ravan
1‑2 against Sumgayit, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market20 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Sep 2027
49 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Fabian Rosales is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Agil Nazarov 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahir Medvedev 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
24 days out for Eddy Huseynov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ravan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Aug 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tommaso Ferronato is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Khazar wanted more than $9.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets9 Aug 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Aydın Bayramov 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Ravan have made Qara Abdullayev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Eddy Huseynov out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Jun 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ravan
Position 10 and 2 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Zira had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Agil Nazarov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Ravan
Vugar 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 29 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Ravan offered $28.0K; Kapaz said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 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.
Market26 Apr 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Pressure builds in the Ravan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Ravan
Guilherme Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Rufat Amirguliyev 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Qara Abdullayev 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The Vugar Ozobic story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vugar Ozobic signs something — a contract at Ravan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Apr 2027
Ravan have made Qara Abdullayev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ravan
Guilherme Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahir Medvedev 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Afran Khalilzade and Ravan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch22 Mar 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 Ravan, and 4 appearances in 32 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Ravan lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Market22 Mar 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Diego Cortés arrives at Ravan with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Ravan
Vugar Guseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Ravan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agil Amirguliyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Sumgayit to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ravan and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Agil Garayev 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 Agil Garayev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Bahlul Ozobic damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Dec 2026
Agil Nazarov 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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Vugar Guseynov 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Mahir Medvedev 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
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bahlul Ozobic damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ravan
Guilherme Santos 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vugar Guseynov 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 watch21 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Sumgayit to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ravan and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Javid Dadashov is still being punished for one mistake
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bahlul Ozobic
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ravan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Kamran Ramazanov out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Ravan
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Ravan are no longer polite ones.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Guilherme Santos is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravan against Inter
0‑1 to Inter, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match12 Oct 2026
The half-term report on Ravan
Position 10, 2 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.