The Van Post
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Van can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad5 Aug 2030
50 days out for Robert Łukowiak after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Van will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
Emergency meeting at Van
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Jurgen Bardhi stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jurgen Bardhi and Van agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Jurgen Bardhi 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 Van this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Door shut on Kieran Wilson
Van asked and Noah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
Wages eat 109% of everything Van earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Van try to borrow Mkhitar Mkhitaryan
BKMA 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.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
The manager's exit leaves Oleg Suvorov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Oleg Suvorov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
In brief
- Squad Karen Bayramyan slips down the pecking order
- The dugout Evgeniy Mashagin asks for a word with the manager
- Market Oleh Strotskyi's agent talks up a move