The Shirak Sentinel
Squad8 Mar 2027
Christian Flores signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christian Flores and Shirak agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Artem Avanesyan runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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 Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Hamlet Mnatsakanyan for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Shirak will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Shirak
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksi Paananen 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Armen Mkhitaryan steps up from the Shirak academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Armen Mkhitaryan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
Shirak promote Arman Karapetyan from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Arman Karapetyan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market8 Mar 2027
One of our own: Karen Hovhannisyan joins the Shirak first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karen Hovhannisyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Hayk Barseghyan joins the Shirak first team
- Match A bad afternoon for Shirak against Ararat-Armenia
- Boardroom Shirak turn down the training-ground plan