It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tyler Tingey has, at Ararat-Armenia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Tyler Tingey is 19, and Ararat-Armenia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan David Moreno is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hugo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ararat-Armenia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
BKMA next, and one man in the Ararat-Armenia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Daniil Zhitnikov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ararat-Armenia.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Narek Ghazaryan left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Bravim is on it.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Suško and Ararat-Armenia agree another 4 years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rob Nizet is on it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Narek Ghazaryan chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Urartu defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Karen Muradyan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ararat-Armenia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
João Bravim 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 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ararat-Armenia
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karen Grigoryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hovhannes Sarkisov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Armen 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edgar Mkhitaryan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad6 Mar 2028
5 new faces, and Ararat-Armenia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan David Moreno is on it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Misak Hakobyan 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
França 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Bravim is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ararat-Armenia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Adam Huskić is living that version at Ararat-Armenia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
Market14 Feb 2028
The window shut and Paul Ayongo is still in the building
Ararat-Armenia spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ararat-Armenia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Ararat-Armenia close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
João Bravim 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.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Noah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Balanta'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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan David Moreno is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The shirt still fits. Arsen Beglaryan is back at Ararat-Armenia, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Bravim is on it.
Not every move is upward. Arsen Beglaryan has accepted terms at Ararat-Armenia that are worse than the ones he left, and the only question that matters now is whether the football makes up for it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Muradyan signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Everything agreed with Alashkert, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Lernayin Artsakh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alwyn Luheni Tera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hugo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ararat-Armenia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ararat-Armenia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
João Bravim 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Misak Hakobyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Noah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ararat-Armenia, another week without a signature from Misak Hakobyan.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Balanta'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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hugo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Noah for Karen Muradyan 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ararat-Armenia had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Misak 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.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Alashkert said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Arman Nersesyan again, and this time the name on the line is Shirak. Ararat-Armenia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandros Malis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat-Armenia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karen Muradyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alwyn Luheni Tera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Felipe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat-Armenia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
João Bravim and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Muradyan signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luis Felipe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat-Armenia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Juan Balanta is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxence Carlier is on it.
Kamo Hovhannisyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arman Nersesyan and Ararat-Armenia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Arman Nersesyan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ararat-Armenia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Hugo Oliveira
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandros Malis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat-Armenia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Bravim is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-Armenia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alwyn Luheni Tera signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Ararat-Armenia know which stage they are at.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ararat-Armenia had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-Armenia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Juan Balanta keeps the shirt for now, at Ararat-Armenia's convenience rather than his own.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Muradyan signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Balanta'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.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ararat-Armenia would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A new face in his position, and Juan Balanta suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Ararat-Armenia have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Arthur Coneglian has written the date down.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Arayik Eloyan has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniil Zhitnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Arman Ghazaryan has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ararat-Armenia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan David Moreno is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ararat-Armenia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandros Malis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat-Armenia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
8 clean sheets from 13 appearances at Andranik. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alwyn Luheni Tera signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat-Armenia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
João Bravim and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rafael Carioca and Ararat-Armenia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Rafael Carioca is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Muradyan signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Kamo Hovhannisyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Balanta'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.
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.
Maxence Carlier has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Arthur Coneglian has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ararat-Armenia know it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hugo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ararat-Armenia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandros Malis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat-Armenia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kamo Hovhannisyan and Ararat-Armenia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Karen Muradyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Bravim is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hugo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
8 shut-outs in 12 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Arman Nersesyan has been having a lot of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Felipe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ararat-Armenia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
França 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.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
7 shut-outs in 11 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Arman Nersesyan has been having a lot of them.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Muradyan signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Shirak go through and Ararat-Armenia go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
Daniil Zhitnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Juan Balanta is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Ghazaryan after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tigran Barseghyan and Ararat-Armenia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about João Bravim
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
João Bravim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
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.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 15. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandros Malis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Zaven Khudaverdyan has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ararat-Armenia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Ararat-Armenia close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hayq waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Kamo Hovhannisyan 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ararat-Armenia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Alexandros Malis again, and this time the name on the line is Hayq. Ararat-Armenia are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Alioune Ndour and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 appearances at Andranik and the goals have stopped going in. Ararat-Armenia lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zaven Khudaverdyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Ararat-Armenia and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karen Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alwyn Luheni Tera signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ararat-Armenia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Edgar Grigoryan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rob Nizet is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karen Muradyan signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
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 ratings26 Jul 2027
Sead Islamović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mika waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
João Bravim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arayik Eloyan is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ararat-Armenia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 34 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Paul Ayongo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ararat-Armenia.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ararat-Armenia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ararat-Armenia can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat-Armenia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Noah have kept their man, and Ararat-Armenia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of João Bravim
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Add another name to the list: Hayq have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexandros Malis. The answer from Ararat-Armenia has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mika waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Ararat-Armenia did not have in the autumn.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Noah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Karen 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.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Karen Muradyan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
1 for Alwyn Luheni Tera, marked 7.89, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniil Zhitnikov 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.
In brief
Boardroom91% of the income goes out in wages at Ararat-Armenia
The dugoutNo place for Junior Julio on the big day
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ararat-Armenia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of Alioune Ndour has come up in conversations Ararat-Armenia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zaven Khudaverdyan did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
At 19 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.55 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout24 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Narek Ghazaryan, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rob Nizet is on it.
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Alexandros Malis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Narek Ghazaryan to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paul Ayongo and Ararat-Armenia agree another 3 years.
Paul Ayongo scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Alashkert, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Noah; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alioune Ndour is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edgar Grigoryan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Lernayin Artsakh, and it could have been more.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A brace, and Paul Ayongo takes the afternoon — 8.80
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Paul Ayongo provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Karen 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.
Noah next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
João Bravim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Arayik Eloyan 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ararat-Armenia. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat-Armenia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Juan Balanta had Ararat-Armenia level again within 3 minutes, and Gandzasar never got to play with a lead at all.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ararat-Armenia know it.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alioune Ndour and Ararat-Armenia agree another 4 years.
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.
Kamo Hovhannisyan 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Ararat-Armenia is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alexandros Malis 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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against BKMA in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sandro Lima has written the date down.
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Alioune Ndour and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A mark of 7.90, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Narek Ghazaryan, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-Armenia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Arayik Eloyan could not do
Edgar Grigoryan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Zaven Khudaverdyan is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Arayik Eloyan 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.
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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kamo Hovhannisyan and Ararat-Armenia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arman Ghazaryan 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Grigor Spertsyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hovhannes Spertsyan 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniil Zhitnikov is living that version at Ararat-Armenia, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Karen Muradyan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ararat-Armenia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alioune Ndour trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Junior Julio a promise
João Bravim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Sead Islamović has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ararat-Armenia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxence Carlier is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxence Carlier trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Kamo Hovhannisyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ararat-Armenia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ararat-Armenia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Karen Muradyan is still in the building
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Alioune Ndour
28Edition
The Ararat-Armenia Herald
8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Juan Balanta for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ararat-Armenia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Dani Figueira has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ararat-Armenia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitario Popayan have kept their man, and Ararat-Armenia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Balanta'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.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Bravim signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Ararat-Armenia know which stage they are at.
That is the business done at Ararat-Armenia until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Alioune Ndour 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.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Zaven Khudaverdyan is 19, and Ararat-Armenia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-Armenia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Maxence Carlier has moved up it.
The deal with Noah is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alexandros Malis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edgar Grigoryan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ararat-Armenia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ararat-Armenia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Zhirayr Shaghoyan was one of the reasons people came, and $1.6M does not replace that by itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Grêmio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Universitario Popayan: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ararat-Armenia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arayik Eloyan is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Bravim signs something — a contract at Ararat-Armenia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ararat-Armenia can pretend not to have heard.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Pyunik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ararat-Armenia has been clear about where Karen Muradyan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Ararat-Armenia have made the call to Noah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Alwyn Luheni Tera was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-Armenia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Junior Julio has written the date down.
In brief
SquadJuan Balanta is put on a programme of his own
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alwyn Luheni Tera 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.
“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; Ararat-Armenia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Arayik Eloyan 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Arayik Eloyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
França was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ararat-Armenia pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Balanta'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.
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Ararat-Armenia would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Junior Julio a promise
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat-Armenia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Alwyn Luheni Tera and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
2 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Juan Balanta is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arayik Eloyan is on it.
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Karen Muradyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rob Nizet is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ararat-Armenia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
João Bravim 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 Oct 2026
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“99 caps was 99 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 34 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Ararat-Armenia.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ararat-Armenia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ararat-Armenia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alwyn Luheni Tera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Ararat-Armenia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Ararat-Armenia 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ararat-Armenia scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Kamo Hovhannisyan 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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 Ararat-Armenia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Grigoryan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 14 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxence Carlier is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ararat-Armenia can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 23 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flamengo is saying, and nobody at Ararat-Armenia is enjoying the guessing.
Zhirayr Shaghoyan 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 Sep 2026
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edgar Grigoryan 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.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Widzew Łódź said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sandro Lima has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
The dugoutAlioune Ndour has become a man the manager trusts
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 99th minute. Shirak will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ararat-Armenia asked and Alashkert said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A loan enquiry to Flamengo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Narek Ghazaryan kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutJoão Bravim has become a man the manager trusts
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santiago Wanderers have kept their man, and Ararat-Armenia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ararat-Armenia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karen Muradyan 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.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
João Bravim and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Ararat-Armenia spend $1.8M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.8M for Rob Nizet, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Itabirito have kept their man, and Ararat-Armenia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Ararat-Armenia know which stage they are at.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ararat-Armenia, another week without a signature from Juan David Moreno.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Alashkert keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ararat-Armenia have gone to Noah with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan David Moreno has just signed for Ararat-Armenia, and for once the answer mattered.
Add another name to the list: AEL have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Paul Ayongo. The answer from Ararat-Armenia has not changed — yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.9M — a club that wants Rob Nizet enough to be asked twice.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ararat-Armenia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Narek Haroyan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tigran Barseghyan 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.
João Bravim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Ararat-Armenia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.