Marked for Sergio Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Aug 2045
A knee injury of the worst kind for Théodore Rivière
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom21 Aug 2045
The scrutiny sharpens at Noah
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Noah is running low.
Squad21 Aug 2045
“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.
Market21 Aug 2045
Noah say no — this time
The offer from Van for Wout Malen 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.
Squad21 Aug 2045
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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.
Market21 Aug 2045
Everyone has stopped pretending: Pyunik will make the call about Sergio Ramirez this week. Noah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Aug 2045
A knee injury of the worst kind for Théodore Rivière
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Aug 2045
“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 The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Aug 2045
The name of Sergio Ramirez has come up in conversations Noah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Aug 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Aug 2045
The Noah debt reaches $38.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad14 Aug 2045
49 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
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Market
Shirak are about to pick up the phone
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces7 Aug 2045
Anger at Noah 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.
Squad7 Aug 2045
A knee injury of the worst kind for Théodore Rivière
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Aug 2045
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2045
Sergio Ramirez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Aug 2045
Tate Ferdinand pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad7 Aug 2045
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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 Aug 2045
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antoni Bałabuch and Noah agree another 2 years.
Boardroom7 Aug 2045
The owner puts $320.3K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom7 Aug 2045
Noah cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Jul 2045
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom17 Jul 2045
The Noah debt reaches $39.3M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad17 Jul 2045
“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.
Market17 Jul 2045
The Milko Minev conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gandzasar will make the call about Milko Minev this week. Noah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad17 Jul 2045
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wout Malen 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.
Squad17 Jul 2045
Sergey Muradyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces10 Jul 2045
The mood at Noah has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market10 Jul 2045
“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.
Market10 Jul 2045
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market10 Jul 2045
The name of Wout Malen has come up in conversations Noah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom10 Jul 2045
No signings allowed at Noah
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Market10 Jul 2045
Pyunik are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Noah will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Jun 2045
Pressure builds in the Noah boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jun 2045
Sergio Ramirez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings26 Jun 2045
At 40 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad26 Jun 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Jun 2045
Ararat-Armenia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market26 Jun 2045
The Wout Malen conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Van will make the call about Wout Malen this week. Noah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad26 Jun 2045
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wout Malen 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.
Squad26 Jun 2045
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad26 Jun 2045
The manager makes an example of Wout Malen
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces12 Jun 2045
The mood at Noah has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match10 Jun 2045
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market12 Jun 2045
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Jun 2045
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Jun 2045
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Stanek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market12 Jun 2045
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad12 Jun 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Jun 2045
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.92, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
The terraces12 Jun 2045
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2045
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match3 Jun 2045
The wait goes on for Noah
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Jun 2045
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergey Muradyan and Noah agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jun 2045
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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.
Market5 Jun 2045
The phone has started ringing about Wout Malen again, and this time the name on the line is Pyunik. Noah are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom5 Jun 2045
The owner puts $359.5K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Match3 Jun 2045
A bad afternoon for Noah against Alashkert
0‑1 to Alashkert, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings5 Jun 2045
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Jun 2045
The manager makes an example of Fjodor Jekimov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 May 2045
Ninety minutes of Stanislav Stanek at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Noah.
Player ratings22 May 2045
Nemanja Rajkovic was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Boardroom22 May 2045
Noah are $39.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings22 May 2045
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 May 2045
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Ramirez, and the manager let it.
Match20 May 2045
Honours even between Noah and Van
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad22 May 2045
Milko Minev 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.
Squad22 May 2045
Tempers go at Noah
Petros Hakobyan 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.
Squad22 May 2045
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2045
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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.
Match22 Apr 2045
Ararat-Armenia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom24 Apr 2045
Noah are $39.2M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings24 Apr 2045
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Apr 2045
Wout Malen 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.
Squad24 Apr 2045
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad24 Apr 2045
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market24 Apr 2045
The clock does Nemanja Rajkovic’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Noah could ask drops and the wages Nemanja Rajkovic can ask rise.
Player ratings24 Apr 2045
Chances created: 5. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Apr 2045
Noah throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Shirak the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Noah will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings10 Apr 2045
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Apr 2045
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market10 Apr 2045
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The terraces10 Apr 2045
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Joshua Phillips has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings10 Apr 2045
Ninety minutes of Stanislav Stanek at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Noah.
Squad10 Apr 2045
“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.
Match8 Apr 2045
Honours even between Noah and Shirak
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings10 Apr 2045
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Apr 2045
A fracture rules Antoni Bałabuch out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom3 Apr 2045
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.
Market3 Apr 2045
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom3 Apr 2045
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Noah
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 Apr 2045
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Apr 2045
An order from above at Noah: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Boardroom3 Apr 2045
$361.4K of the owner's money at Noah
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match1 Apr 2045
A 1‑0 win over Alashkert, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Apr 2045
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Feb 2045
A fracture rules Antoni Bałabuch out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad6 Feb 2045
379 appearances across 21 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.
Market6 Feb 2045
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Feb 2045
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tate Ferdinand commits to Noah for another 2 years.
Squad6 Feb 2045
Tempers go at Noah
Tate Ferdinand 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.
Boardroom6 Feb 2045
$499.9K of the owner's money at Noah
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Jan 2045
The mood at Noah has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad23 Jan 2045
A fracture rules Antoni Bałabuch out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Jan 2045
Every point is an argument now for Noah
Position 8 and 14 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.
Market23 Jan 2045
Noah say no — this time
The offer from Pyunik for Sergio Ramirez 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.
Market23 Jan 2045
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market23 Jan 2045
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jan 2045
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Jan 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Jan 2045
No signings allowed at Noah
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
-
Market
The shop window has Nemanja Rajkovic in it
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Jan 2045
A fracture rules Antoni Bałabuch out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Jan 2045
“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.
Market9 Jan 2045
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Pyunik moved on, Sergio Ramirez reports back to Noah, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad9 Jan 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jan 2045
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antoni Bałabuch commits to Noah for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jan 2045
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jan 2045
A fracture rules Antoni Bałabuch out for 110 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom2 Jan 2045
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 Noah can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market2 Jan 2045
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Jan 2045
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antoni Bałabuch and Noah agree another 2 years.
Market2 Jan 2045
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Noah have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom2 Jan 2045
The owner puts $506.6K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom2 Jan 2045
Noah are $39.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad2 Jan 2045
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Ramirez, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Jan 2045
Milko Minev 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
Crisis
Squad28 Nov 2044
A fracture rules Antoni Bałabuch out for 145 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Nov 2044
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joshua Phillips
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces28 Nov 2044
The mood at Noah has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match28 Nov 2044
Noah are in real trouble now
Position 8, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market28 Nov 2044
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Nov 2044
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Nov 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Nov 2044
No signings allowed at Noah
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad28 Nov 2044
The manager makes an example of Antoni Bałabuch
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Nov 2044
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joshua Phillips
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom21 Nov 2044
The scrutiny sharpens at Noah
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Noah is running low.
Market21 Nov 2044
“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.
Squad21 Nov 2044
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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.
Squad21 Nov 2044
“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; Noah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 Nov 2044
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Nov 2044
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Nov 2044
Sergio Ramirez: 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.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Nov 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergey Muradyan commits to Noah for another 2 years.
Boardroom7 Nov 2044
The owner puts $489.8K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Nov 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Squad7 Nov 2044
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Sep 2044
Pressure builds in the Noah boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad26 Sep 2044
Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Squad26 Sep 2044
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Sep 2044
“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.
Market12 Sep 2044
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Pyunik moved on, Sergio Ramirez reports back to Noah, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad12 Sep 2044
Thomas Miller: 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.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Sep 2044
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmytro Paruta and Noah agree another 1 years.
Squad12 Sep 2044
Tempers go at Noah
Tate Ferdinand 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.
Squad12 Sep 2044
Antoni Bałabuch 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
Crisis
Match5 Sep 2044
Noah sink to position 8
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Sep 2044
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Sep 2044
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Sep 2044
The phone has started ringing about Sergio Ramirez again, and this time the name on the line is Pyunik. Noah are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad5 Sep 2044
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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.
Squad5 Sep 2044
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anton Roschin and Noah agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom5 Sep 2044
The owner puts $511.8K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad5 Sep 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Boardroom5 Sep 2044
Noah cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Aug 2044
Pressure builds in the Noah boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market29 Aug 2044
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market29 Aug 2044
Milko Minev 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 Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Aug 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Aug 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milko Minev 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.
Squad29 Aug 2044
Sergey Muradyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Aug 2044
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Aug 2044
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Aug 2044
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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
Crisis
Market15 Aug 2044
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Aug 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Aug 2044
Antoni Bałabuch 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 Aug 2044
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nemanja Rajkovic, and the manager let it.
Market15 Aug 2044
Everyone has stopped pretending: Pyunik will make the call about Sergio Ramirez this week. Noah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Boardroom15 Aug 2044
The Noah debt reaches $41.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Aug 2044
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Noah
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Aug 2044
Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Squad1 Aug 2044
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jul 2044
“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 Jul 2044
Juan Pascual: 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.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Jul 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Jun 2044
A hiding for Noah
Beaten 0‑3 by Ararat-Armenia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match25 Jun 2044
8 matches without a win for Noah
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Noah are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Jun 2044
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad27 Jun 2044
Tempers go at Noah
Sergey Muradyan 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.
Match25 Jun 2044
Noah leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings27 Jun 2044
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.
Squad27 Jun 2044
“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.
Boardroom27 Jun 2044
Inquest at Noah
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad27 Jun 2044
Milko Minev 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
Market30 May 2044
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 May 2044
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.
Squad30 May 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Squad30 May 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 May 2044
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 May 2044
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Apr 2044
The wait goes on for Noah
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings2 May 2044
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad2 May 2044
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 ratings2 May 2044
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Boardroom2 May 2044
The owner puts $443.7K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 May 2044
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dries De Bruyne, and the manager let it.
Squad2 May 2044
Stanislav Stanek 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.
Player ratings2 May 2044
Marked 7.63. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad2 May 2044
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Apr 2044
“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.
Match23 Apr 2044
6 matches without a win for Noah
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Noah are no longer polite ones.
Match23 Apr 2044
Noah are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match23 Apr 2044
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Apr 2044
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Ramirez, and the manager let it.
Boardroom25 Apr 2044
The Noah debt reaches $41.6M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad25 Apr 2044
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Antoni Bałabuch knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad25 Apr 2044
The manager has not finished forgetting Antoni Bałabuch's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad25 Apr 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milko Minev 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
Uneasy
Player ratings11 Apr 2044
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.59 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match9 Apr 2044
No end in sight to Noah's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Noah has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Apr 2044
Tempers go at Noah
Sergio Ramirez 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.
Squad11 Apr 2044
Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Match9 Apr 2044
No clean sheets in sight for Noah
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The terraces11 Apr 2044
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Joshua Phillips has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings11 Apr 2044
Joshua Phillips was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Match9 Apr 2044
Noah share the spoils with Shirak
A 2‑2 draw with Shirak leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad11 Apr 2044
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Mar 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antoni Bałabuch commits to Noah for another 1 years.
Boardroom7 Mar 2044
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Noah
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Boardroom7 Mar 2044
The owner puts $440.1K into Noah
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Mar 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoni Bałabuch 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.
Market7 Mar 2044
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edgar Barseghyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market7 Mar 2044
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edgar Simonyan 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.
Market7 Mar 2044
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Petros Ghazaryan 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.
Market7 Mar 2044
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Arman Movsisyan 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.
Squad7 Mar 2044
The manager makes an example of Antoni Bałabuch
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom22 Feb 2044
Noah cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad22 Feb 2044
Joshua Phillips 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
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Feb 2044
$327.0K of the owner's money at Noah
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Feb 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Phillips 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.
Squad8 Feb 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pavlo Tymoschuk commits to Noah for another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2044
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market8 Feb 2044
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Noah, another week without a signature from Fjodor Jekimov.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom18 Jan 2044
The scrutiny sharpens at Noah
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Noah is running low.
Squad18 Jan 2044
A fracture rules Fjodor Jekimov out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Jan 2044
Words at Noah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antoni Bałabuch 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.