Marked for Marcel Arnautovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Jan 2031
Vladislav Pulkach arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vladislav Pulkach has, at Urartu, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom20 Jan 2031
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grêmio have kept their man, and Urartu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Albert Khachumyan 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Urartu know it.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Ararat-Armenia 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.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
A loan move for Tolga Erkin is in the works
Urartu have made the call to Paralimni. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market20 Jan 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Urartu know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Dec 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Urartu they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Dec 2030
The medical room confirms 69 days on the sidelines for Sergey Mkrtchyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Dec 2030
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
Market2 Dec 2030
Only the photograph left for Kevin Pereira
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Pereira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Urartu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Albert Khachumyan 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 Dec 2030
56 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market2 Dec 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market2 Dec 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gor Matinyan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom25 Nov 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. David Harutyunyan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad25 Nov 2030
A falling-out at Urartu
Albert Khachumyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
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.
Market25 Nov 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Urartu know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match25 Nov 2030
Continental football is in reach for Urartu
27 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcel Arnautovic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Urartu. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad25 Nov 2030
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Nov 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Urartu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Nov 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout28 Oct 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad28 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tristan Parkes commits to Urartu for another 4 years.
Squad28 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Urartu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Oct 2030
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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
A quiet fortnight at Urartu
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“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.
Market14 Oct 2030
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Urartu could get for him.
Squad14 Oct 2030
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Urartu would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Oct 2030
Kevin Pereira has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Urartu they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Albert Khachumyan 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words exchanged at Urartu
Edgar Hovhannisyan 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 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tolga Bayindir commits to Urartu for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Mkrtchyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Sep 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Urartu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gor Matinyan and Urartu agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets9 Sep 2030
Urartu asked and Fatih Karagumruk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Albert Khachumyan 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 Sep 2030
A falling-out at Urartu
Marcel Arnautovic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Sep 2030
4 Urartu players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Carron, and the manager let it.
Market9 Sep 2030
The Gor Matinyan story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gor Matinyan signs something — a contract at Urartu or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Sep 2030
268 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Urartu know what they have.
The dugout2 Sep 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Urartu have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Urartu 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 targets2 Sep 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Omonoia have kept their man, and Urartu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcel Arnautovic and Urartu agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Tempers go at Urartu
Vardan Tovmasyan 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 targets2 Sep 2030
A loan enquiry to Defensor Sporting: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad2 Sep 2030
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vardan Tovmasyan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market2 Sep 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 Urartu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Urartu asked and Platense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Urartu
Marcel Arnautovic 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 targets22 Jul 2030
A loan enquiry to Fatih Karagumruk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Maiboroda 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.
Market22 Jul 2030
Urartu have made Paul Osama available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Kirill Matsak 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 Kirill Matsak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Jul 2030
“He is at an age where he has to be playing at the top level. We will listen to anybody.” The representative of Mikhail Maiboroda is not being subtle.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
Urartu keep producing them
50 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Kevin Pereira
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Pereira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Urartu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shirak have kept their man, and Urartu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Albert Khachumyan 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 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Urartu
Marcel Arnautovic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
A loan move for Moussa Kone is in the works
Urartu have made the call to Fatih Karagumruk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
“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.
Market15 Jul 2030
The Gor Matinyan story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gor Matinyan signs something — a contract at Urartu or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad15 Jul 2030
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 Urartu would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market15 Jul 2030
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Urartu money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 May 2030
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings27 May 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match25 May 2030
Nobody wants to play Urartu right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad27 May 2030
A row about effort at Urartu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Khachumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 May 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 May 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Looking ahead27 May 2030
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Davit Petrosyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words exchanged at Urartu
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Grigory Matevosyan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
Paul Osama: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Urartu have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Urartu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Melkonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces8 Apr 2030
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.
Match6 Apr 2030
Van made Urartu work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Apr 2030
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Tempers go at Urartu
Marcel Arnautovic 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 dugout8 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davit Petrosyan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Feb 2030
Karen Melkonyan 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
Erik Piloyan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Erik Piloyan is on it.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tolga Bayindir, and the manager let it.
Market18 Feb 2030
The name of Nicholas Kaloukian keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Urartu say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Kevin Pereira wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Urartu have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Nov 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Nov 2029
Kevin Pereira has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Urartu they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Albert Khachumyan 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 dugout5 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Grigory Matevosyan, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Urartu
Armen Simonyan 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.
Match5 Nov 2029
Continental football is in reach for Urartu
31 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Urartu have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match16 Jun 2029
A hiding for Urartu
Beaten 0‑4 by Noah, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match13 Jun 2029
The small margins put Urartu out
Out, 0‑1 to Pyunik, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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 Urartu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Poliarus 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Urartu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pyunik have kept their man, and Urartu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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Looking ahead
The big one: Alashkert come into view
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Squad
Tempers go at Urartu
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Boardroom
Inquest at Urartu
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market11 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Urartu have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Nicholas Kaloukian
16 goals and a season average of 7.33 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match9 Jun 2029
It finished 3‑2, and it was Sergey Mkrtchyan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Urartu.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Urartu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Melkonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
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.
Match9 Jun 2029
Urartu settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Van spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Looking ahead11 Jun 2029
Top-of-the-table clash for Urartu
Noah next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.