Marked for Bojan Bilic
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Sep 2038
Kajally Drammeh damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Market13 Sep 2038
Only the photograph left for Bojan Bilic
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bojan Bilic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market13 Sep 2038
Shirak come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alashkert did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Edgar Piloyan 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.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Market13 Sep 2038
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Alashkert have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2038
Kajally Drammeh damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Match30 Aug 2038
Alashkert refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad30 Aug 2038
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.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Nikita Yermakov: 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.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Aug 2038
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Edgar Piloyan 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
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2038
Kajally Drammeh damages knee ligaments — 127 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Squad9 Aug 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alashkert may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Aug 2038
Van come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alashkert did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market9 Aug 2038
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Aug 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kajally Drammeh and Alashkert agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Jul 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alashkert may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 2038
Mateo Fofre hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2038
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from BKMA for Artem Burda was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Edgar Piloyan 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.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Nalbandyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Jul 2038
Alashkert refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jul 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2038
224 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Alashkert know what they have.
Player ratings5 Jul 2038
Edgar Piloyan, 33, rolls back the years — 7.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market5 Jul 2038
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from Van for Bojan Bilic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad5 Jul 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Karen Nalbandyan commits to Alashkert for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jul 2038
Add another name to the list: BKMA have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artem Burda. The answer from Alashkert has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Jun 2038
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 27 matches without defeat is a foundation Alashkert did not have in the autumn.
Match5 Jun 2038
Alashkert make home a hard place to visit
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match7 Jun 2038
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings7 Jun 2038
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Jun 2038
375 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market7 Jun 2038
“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 2038
Mateo Fofre: 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.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market7 Jun 2038
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Alashkert have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market7 Jun 2038
Olawale Farayola wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Alashkert hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 May 2038
The run at home goes on for Alashkert
19 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match22 May 2038
Alashkert win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Pyunik will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market24 May 2038
“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.
Player ratings24 May 2038
Kajally Drammeh, 34, rolls back the years — 9.18
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.18 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match22 May 2038
Alashkert make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Alashkert have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad24 May 2038
Bojan Bilic: 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.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 May 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajally Drammeh 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.
Match22 May 2038
Pyunik made Alashkert work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2038
A fracture rules Caio Henrique out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Feb 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alashkert may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Feb 2038
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market8 Feb 2038
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Feb 2038
Artur Garibyan 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.
Squad8 Feb 2038
Kajally Drammeh 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
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2038
A fracture rules Caio Henrique out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2038
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from Gandzasar for Vladimir Jankto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market25 Jan 2038
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2038
Artur Garibyan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2038
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Market25 Jan 2038
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2038
A fracture rules Caio Henrique out for 118 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 2038
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Edgar Piloyan 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.
Market11 Jan 2038
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Market11 Jan 2038
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gandzasar will make the call about Vladimir Jankto this week. Alashkert have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2037
A fracture rules Dmitry Barinov out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Oct 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Edgar Piloyan 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
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2037
A fracture rules Dmitry Barinov out for 70 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Oleksandr Slyvka damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Market7 Sep 2037
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edgar Piloyan and Alashkert agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Sep 2037
The name of Bojan Bilic has come up in conversations Alashkert were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2037
A fracture rules Dmitry Barinov out for 77 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Aug 2037
Alashkert through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Ararat-Armenia, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Oleksandr Slyvka damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Match31 Aug 2037
37 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match26 Aug 2037
Still nobody has beaten Alashkert
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
Kajally Drammeh, 33, rolls back the years — 9.30
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.30 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad31 Aug 2037
“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.
Match26 Aug 2037
The run at home goes on for Alashkert
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market31 Aug 2037
Shirak come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alashkert did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2037
Artur Garibyan: 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.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Aug 2037
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladimir Jankto and Alashkert agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Market10 Aug 2037
The phone has started ringing about Ernestas Lysionok again, and this time the name on the line is Ararat. Alashkert are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Jul 2037
Shirak come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alashkert did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad13 Jul 2037
“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.
Squad13 Jul 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Jul 2037
A muscle injury sidelines Dmitry Barinov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Alashkert will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajally Drammeh 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.
Market13 Jul 2037
The phone has started ringing about Gevorg Karapetyan again, and this time the name on the line is Shirak. Alashkert are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Jul 2037
Alashkert are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match4 Jul 2037
Whatever happens, Alashkert do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad6 Jul 2037
359 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Player ratings6 Jul 2037
Karen Nalbandyan, 35, rolls back the years — 8.01
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market6 Jul 2037
“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.
Squad6 Jul 2037
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Matteo Trombini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Zaven Khudaverdyan 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.
Player ratings6 Jul 2037
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.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Nalbandyan 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Jun 2037
Alashkert through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Van, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market22 Jun 2037
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
Defensive actions: 30, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
Kajally Drammeh, 33, rolls back the years — 8.74
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.74 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
A defender's afternoon for Edgar Piloyan
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match20 Jun 2037
Whatever happens, Alashkert do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market22 Jun 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Jun 2037
31 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad8 Jun 2037
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market8 Jun 2037
Alashkert say no — this time
The offer from Pyunik for Kristian Dyakov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad8 Jun 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kajally Drammeh and Alashkert agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Jun 2037
Zaven Khudaverdyan 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.
Squad8 Jun 2037
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Player ratings8 Jun 2037
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match6 Jun 2037
Still nobody has beaten Alashkert
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match6 Jun 2037
Alashkert make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.