Marked for Araz Bayramov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Araz Bayramov 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Vugar Ismayilov 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Luka Badžim 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Kapaz are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ravan will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 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.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
Anger at Ravan 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.
Market7 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Araz Bayramov breaks a bone — 28 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Khazar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ruslan Khalilzade. The answer from Ravan has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Luka Badžim 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Sednev, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A promise honoured for Luka Badžim
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ravan told Luka Badžim something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Ravan pull $61.2K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ravan
Position 9 and 7 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.
Market31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Araz Bayramov breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Araz Bayramov breaks a bone — 42 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom24 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Araz Bayramov breaks a bone — 49 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Tamkin Ismayilov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Araz Bayramov breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ravan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad10 May 2027
Badhuga 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
Tempers go at Ravan
Namig Mammadov 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.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kamran Mammadov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ravan
Position 9 and 7 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.
Market3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Araz Bayramov out for 64 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Badhuga has agreed to leave Ravan for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Badhuga 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Luka Badžim 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
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Araz Bayramov out for 73 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ravan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market26 Apr 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Ravan
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ravan is running low.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Badhuga 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Araz Bayramov out for 81 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.
Market19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 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.
In brief
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Squad
Badhuga falls out with a teammate over standards
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Squad
Badhuga knocks on the manager's door
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Market
The shop window has Rahid Ramazanov in it
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Araz Bayramov breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Vugar Ismayilov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Ravan
Vugar Ismayilov 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 Jan 2027
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Badhuga 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Rufat Nadirov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rufat Nadirov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ravan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.