Marked for Liam Cunningham
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2045
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Nov 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonin Krejci 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.
Squad27 Nov 2045
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artak Haroyan and Urartu agree another 3 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Nov 2045
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom6 Nov 2045
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Loris Benito made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
Match6 Nov 2045
Urartu are in real trouble now
Position 10, 9 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.
Squad6 Nov 2045
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitriy Degtyarenko commits to Urartu for another 2 years.
Squad6 Nov 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Liam Cunningham 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.
Squad6 Nov 2045
A muscle injury sidelines Norbert Rusnak for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Urartu will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom6 Nov 2045
$332.6K of the owner's money at Urartu
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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2045
The Urartu debt reaches $37.0M
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.
Market6 Nov 2045
No place for Ben Jackson in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ben Jackson has his answer from Urartu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Oct 2045
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Oct 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonin Krejci 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 Oct 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Thiago Gómez 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
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Oct 2045
Urartu part company with the manager
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad2 Oct 2045
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Oct 2045
Urartu have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Boardroom2 Oct 2045
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Market2 Oct 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 Urartu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Oct 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2045
Julian Posch pulls a muscle — 14 days out
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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2045
The owner puts $301.9K into Urartu
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 Oct 2045
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ben Jackson and Urartu agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Sep 2045
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces18 Sep 2045
Anger at Urartu 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.
Boardroom18 Sep 2045
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Urartu
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad18 Sep 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niccolò Rizzo 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 Sep 2045
17 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
Squad4 Sep 2045
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Sep 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Sep 2045
“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.
Squad4 Sep 2045
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafael Santos and Urartu agree another 2 years.
Boardroom4 Sep 2045
The owner puts $261.2K into Urartu
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.
Market4 Sep 2045
Add another name to the list: Gandzasar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kevin Eriksson. The answer from Urartu has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Sep 2045
Odin Samuels-Smith 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2045
Urartu are $37.1M 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.
Market4 Sep 2045
“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.
In brief
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Market
The clock does Liam Cunningham’s negotiating for him
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Boardroom
The Urartu production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2045
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Aug 2045
Urartu sink to position 10
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad14 Aug 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Liam Cunningham 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.
Squad14 Aug 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odin Samuels-Smith 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.
Squad14 Aug 2045
Ben Jackson gets it from the manager
“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 Aug 2045
Urartu have made Antonin Krejci available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Aug 2045
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 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 Urartu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Aug 2045
The owner puts $233.3K into Urartu
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 Aug 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niccolò Rizzo 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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2045
Urartu are $37.3M 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.
Squad7 Aug 2045
The manager makes an example of Paul Martin
“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
Squad31 Jul 2045
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Jul 2045
A fracture rules Ben Jackson out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 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.
Squad31 Jul 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Liam Cunningham 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.
Market31 Jul 2045
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Urartu have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom31 Jul 2045
No signings allowed at Urartu
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jul 2045
The words a physio says slowly. 152 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.
Squad10 Jul 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jul 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.
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
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Urartu have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Jul 2045
Niccolò Rizzo 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
Match1 Jul 2045
13 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Jul 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 44 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom3 Jul 2045
the manager has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Urartu can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad3 Jul 2045
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Jul 2045
Thiago Gómez 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Jul 2045
The Urartu board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Player ratings3 Jul 2045
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.65, and 2 involvements.
Player ratings3 Jul 2045
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Jul 2045
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
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Boardroom
The owner puts $212.9K into Urartu
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Match
Urartu are shipping goals every week
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Boardroom
Urartu cannot sign anybody
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jun 2045
No end in sight to Urartu's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Urartu has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces26 Jun 2045
The mood at Urartu 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.
Squad26 Jun 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 51 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jun 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 2045
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom26 Jun 2045
Pressure builds in the Urartu boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings26 Jun 2045
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jun 2045
Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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
Match17 Jun 2045
11 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Jun 2045
Urartu are in real trouble now
Position 10, 9 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.
Squad19 Jun 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Jun 2045
The cup run ends for Urartu
1‑2 against Alashkert, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market19 Jun 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jun 2045
Antonin Krejci: 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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2045
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jun 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Match17 Jun 2045
Noah take the points off Urartu
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match10 Jun 2045
9 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Market12 Jun 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2045
Jonas Goldschadt: 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.
Squad12 Jun 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Liam Cunningham 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 Jun 2045
Tymur Nianchur 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.
Match10 Jun 2045
Van take the points off Urartu
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom12 Jun 2045
The Urartu debt reaches $36.6M
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.
Market12 Jun 2045
“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
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 72 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match3 Jun 2045
1‑4 to Pyunik, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match3 Jun 2045
8 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Market5 Jun 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Jun 2045
The owner puts $179.1K into Urartu
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 Jun 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Match3 Jun 2045
Urartu leaking at the back
4 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 ratings5 Jun 2045
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Jun 2045
Urartu 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
The terraces29 May 2045
The mood at Urartu 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.
Squad29 May 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 79 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 May 2045
No end in sight to Urartu's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Urartu has to find a result from somewhere.
Market29 May 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.
Boardroom29 May 2045
The scrutiny sharpens at Urartu
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Urartu is running low.
Squad29 May 2045
Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Match27 May 2045
Gandzasar left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 May 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.
Player ratings29 May 2045
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 86 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 May 2045
Urartu are in real trouble now
Position 9, 9 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.
Market22 May 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 Urartu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 May 2045
6 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 May 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tymur Nianchur 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.
Match20 May 2045
BKMA take the points off Urartu
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2045
Ben Jackson breaks a bone — 93 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings15 May 2045
Luis Valdes, 33, rolls back the years — 7.96
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match13 May 2045
The wait goes on for Urartu
5 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.
Squad15 May 2045
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match13 May 2045
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 May 2045
Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Boardroom15 May 2045
The Urartu debt reaches $36.5M
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.
Squad15 May 2045
Thiago Gómez 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 May 2045
4 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 May 2045
The mood at Urartu 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.
Squad1 May 2045
A one-man rearguard from Ben Jackson
There were 7 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.
Squad1 May 2045
202 appearances across 13 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Urartu know what they have.
Boardroom1 May 2045
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Urartu
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 May 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Liam Cunningham 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.
Match29 Apr 2045
3 matches without a goal for Urartu
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 May 2045
Tymur Nianchur 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.
Match29 Apr 2045
Shirak left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings1 May 2045
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Apr 2045
Cup progress for Urartu
A 2‑1 win over Gandzasar, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2045
Luis Valdes, 33, rolls back the years — 7.81
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings10 Apr 2045
A goal and an assist for Oliver Clark — 7.97
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
Squad10 Apr 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Tymur Nianchur 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 ratings10 Apr 2045
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Apr 2045
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Valdes. 1‑0 against Van, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom10 Apr 2045
Urartu 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.
Squad10 Apr 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonin Krejci 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
The terraces3 Apr 2045
The mood at Urartu 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.
Squad3 Apr 2045
A fracture rules Tymur Nianchur out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu 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 scrutiny sharpens at Urartu
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Urartu is running low.
Match1 Apr 2045
5 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings3 Apr 2045
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Apr 2045
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitriy Degtyarenko and Urartu agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Apr 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Apr 2045
$178.4K of the owner's money at Urartu
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.
Squad3 Apr 2045
Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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
Squad27 Mar 2045
A fracture rules Tymur Nianchur out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match25 Mar 2045
No end in sight to Urartu's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Urartu has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Mar 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Tymur Nianchur 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.
Squad27 Mar 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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 ratings27 Mar 2045
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Mar 2045
The manager makes an example of Paul Martin
“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.
Market27 Mar 2045
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Urartu money.
Market27 Mar 2045
No fee and no drama: Fabrizio Pagani has signed at Urartu, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Mar 2045
A fracture rules Tymur Nianchur out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings20 Mar 2045
Klaus Hartmann, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market20 Mar 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 Urartu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Mar 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2045
Antonin Krejci 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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2045
The Urartu debt reaches $36.0M
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.
Squad20 Mar 2045
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Gonzalez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings20 Mar 2045
16 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2045
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2045
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rodrigo Davila
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Mar 2045
A fracture rules Tymur Nianchur out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Mar 2045
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.
Squad13 Mar 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2045
Urartu 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.
Squad13 Mar 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Jonas Goldschadt 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
Squad6 Mar 2045
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rodrigo Davila
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Mar 2045
A fracture rules Tymur Nianchur out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces6 Mar 2045
The mood at Urartu 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.
Squad6 Mar 2045
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad6 Mar 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Mar 2045
Graduation day at Urartu
12 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Boardroom6 Mar 2045
$115.6K of the owner's money at Urartu
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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2045
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Mar 2045
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Haroyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Jan 2045
A fracture rules Tymur Nianchur out for 110 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Urartu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom2 Jan 2045
the manager has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Urartu can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad2 Jan 2045
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Urartu have had the benefit of it.
Squad2 Jan 2045
Tempers go at Urartu
Tymur Nianchur 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.
Boardroom2 Jan 2045
The owner puts $274.5K into Urartu
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 Jan 2045
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonin Krejci 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
Upbeat
Market21 Nov 2044
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raphael Weimann will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Urartu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market21 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Nov 2044
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Urartu have had the benefit of it.
Boardroom21 Nov 2044
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad21 Nov 2044
A move David Molina would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Molina is living that version at Urartu, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad21 Nov 2044
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Norbert Rusnak and Urartu agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom4 Jul 2044
Urartu put the manager on notice
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.
Squad4 Jul 2044
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings4 Jul 2044
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Jul 2044
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 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.
Squad4 Jul 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitriy Degtyarenko commits to Urartu for another 2 years.
Match2 Jul 2044
6 goals as Urartu and Shirak go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Urartu and Shirak, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match2 Jul 2044
Shirak made Urartu work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad4 Jul 2044
Petik Manukyan 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.
In brief
-
Boardroom
$288.2K of the owner's money at Urartu
-
Squad
Tempers go at Urartu
-
Boardroom
No signings allowed at Urartu
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Jun 2044
4‑0, and Niccolò Rizzo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Urartu tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match15 Jun 2044
The cup run ends for Urartu
1‑2 against Pyunik, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad20 Jun 2044
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings20 Jun 2044
Niccolò Rizzo, 36, rolls back the years — 8.15
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings20 Jun 2044
Luis Valdes has a hand in both — 7.97
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.97, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Player ratings20 Jun 2044
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Jun 2044
Petik Manukyan 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 terraces20 Jun 2044
At 22 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.
Player ratings20 Jun 2044
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Jun 2044
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad13 Jun 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 ratings13 Jun 2044
Norbert Rusnak, 34, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match11 Jun 2044
Nobody wants to play Urartu right now
3 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.
Squad13 Jun 2044
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petik Manukyan 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.
Match11 Jun 2044
Urartu get the job done against Van
A 2‑0 win over Van, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom13 Jun 2044
Urartu 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 ratings13 Jun 2044
Marked 7.94. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad13 Jun 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
Squad6 Jun 2044
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings6 Jun 2044
A brace, and Norbert Rusnak takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Norbert Rusnak provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom6 Jun 2044
$237.4K of the owner's money at Urartu
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.
Squad6 Jun 2044
Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Match4 Jun 2044
Pyunik made Urartu work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom6 Jun 2044
No signings allowed at Urartu
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.
Squad6 Jun 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 Urartu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Jun 2044
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Aleksandr Aleksanyan will call it something else in private.
Player ratings6 Jun 2044
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 May 2044
Kevin Eriksson breaks a bone — 104 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 May 2044
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad16 May 2044
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match14 May 2044
4 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 May 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Klaus Hartmann commits to Urartu for another 4 years.
Player ratings16 May 2044
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 May 2044
Kevin Eriksson breaks a bone — 111 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 May 2044
Urartu are in real trouble now
Position 9, 7 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.
Market9 May 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 May 2044
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 May 2044
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitriy Degtyarenko and Urartu agree another 1 years.
Match7 May 2044
Urartu are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad9 May 2044
Petik Manukyan 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.
Match7 May 2044
A bad afternoon for Urartu against Ararat
0‑2 to Ararat, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom9 May 2044
No signings allowed at Urartu
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 May 2044
Anger at Urartu 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.
Squad2 May 2044
Kevin Eriksson breaks a bone — 118 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Apr 2044
Urartu 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 Urartu will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings2 May 2044
A brace, and Dmitriy Degtyarenko takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitriy Degtyarenko provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad2 May 2044
There were 7 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.
Boardroom2 May 2044
Pressure builds in the Urartu boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad2 May 2044
190 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Urartu know what they have.
Player ratings2 May 2044
Age has not caught Petik Manukyan yet — 8.03
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings2 May 2044
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
The owner puts $176.1K into Urartu
-
Match
Urartu leaking at the back
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Apr 2044
Kevin Eriksson breaks a bone — 125 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Squad25 Apr 2044
Dmitriy Degtyarenko 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.
Match23 Apr 2044
Alashkert left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Apr 2044
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gonçalo Silva and Urartu agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings25 Apr 2044
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Apr 2044
Kevin Eriksson breaks a bone — 132 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 132 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 Apr 2044
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.88, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings18 Apr 2044
Two goals and a mark of 7.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Apr 2044
Urartu get the job done against Noah
A 6‑4 win over Noah, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match16 Apr 2044
Norbert Rusnak among the goals in a wild afternoon
10 goals in one match, Norbert Rusnak on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Urartu and Noah.
Squad18 Apr 2044
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petik Manukyan 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 ratings18 Apr 2044
Marked 8.45 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings18 Apr 2044
Liam Cunningham was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Squad18 Apr 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcel Arnautovic commits to Urartu for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Mar 2044
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad28 Mar 2044
Kevin Eriksson breaks a bone — 153 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 153 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Mar 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Mar 2044
There were 7 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.
Match26 Mar 2044
6 matches without a win for Urartu
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Urartu are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Mar 2044
Petik Manukyan 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
Squad14 Mar 2044
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad14 Mar 2044
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Urartu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match12 Mar 2044
The wait goes on for Urartu
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.
Match12 Mar 2044
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match12 Mar 2044
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Urartu and Ararat-Armenia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad14 Mar 2044
Leni Peternac 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.
Squad14 Mar 2044
The manager makes an example of Leni Peternac
“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.
Player ratings14 Mar 2044
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Mar 2044
He is 20, and nobody at Urartu signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Mar 2044
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Boardroom7 Mar 2044
The Urartu board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad7 Mar 2044
Tempers go at Urartu
Petik Manukyan 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.
Boardroom7 Mar 2044
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Urartu
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 $97.6K into Urartu
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.
Market7 Mar 2044
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artak Ghazaryan 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. Petros Barseghyan 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ararat Karapetyan 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Hovhannisyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Feb 2044
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Market29 Feb 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 Urartu can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Feb 2044
The numbers do not look good at Urartu
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2044
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom8 Feb 2044
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Urartu
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad8 Feb 2044
362 appearances across 17 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Urartu know what they have.
Market8 Feb 2044
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gevorg Movsisyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Urartu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 Feb 2044
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad8 Feb 2044
Tempers go at Urartu
Liam Cunningham 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.
Market8 Feb 2044
The Arnaut Malen conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gandzasar will make the call about Arnaut Malen this week. Urartu have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad8 Feb 2044
Antonin Krejci 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.
Market8 Feb 2044
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2044
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Urartu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Feb 2044
362 appearances across 17 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.
Market1 Feb 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2044
Urartu counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Urartu now.
Squad1 Feb 2044
Tempers go at Urartu
Petik Manukyan 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.
Squad1 Feb 2044
Words at Urartu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonin Krejci 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.