Noah U20

12 Apr 2029
Thursday
Process
141 Edition

The Noah Courier

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Gor Manvelyan: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

Noah refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 11 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Sergey Muradyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

David Sualehe stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” David Sualehe and Noah agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gor Manvelyan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Valentin Costache

Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Noah refuse to lose to Shirak

A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás leaves them behind him

Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Market

Ilja Petrov is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Noah has been clear about where Ilja Petrov stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

Back issues
140 Edition

The Noah Courier

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Alashkert end the Noah run at 25

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 25 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Squad

Alexey Ploschadny keeps Noah in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Sergey 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Noah against Alashkert

2‑3 to Alashkert, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

David Sualehe stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” David Sualehe and Noah agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Valentin Costache falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Valentin Costache at his very best

Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Noah.

Player ratings

One of those days for Matheus Aiás

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Jordy Monroy
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Noah dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
139 Edition

The Noah Courier

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

25 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 25 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

26 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Sergey Muradyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.80. 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.

Match

Noah get the job done against Ararat

A 2‑0 win over Ararat, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Gor Manvelyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.18. 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.

In brief

138 Edition

The Noah Courier

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

24 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 24 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Match

Noah leave it late against Van

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Van spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Market

Artur Movsesyan has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Player ratings

Gustavo Sangaré pops up at the right end — 7.78

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.

Player ratings

Hélder Ferreira beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hélder Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Noah get the job done against Van

A 2‑1 win over Van, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

The chances came and went for Matheus Aiás

13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.

In brief

137 Edition

The Noah Courier

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, Noah do not lose

23 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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

25 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Player ratings

Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Sergey Muradyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Costache 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.

Match

Pyunik end the Noah run at 4

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Squad

Renato Alexandrino wants to go home

“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 Noah know it.

The dugout

When it matters, Valentin Costache plays

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Artur Movsesyan

“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.

In brief

136 Edition

The Noah Courier

5 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

24 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Gustavo Sangaré leads the rout of Gandzasar

4‑1, and Gustavo Sangaré took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Noah tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Gustavo Sangaré scores twice — 8.02

Two goals and a mark of 8.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Renato Alexandrino puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Noah make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Noah have 4 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Matheus Aiás signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matheus Aiás and Noah agree another 3 years.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

5 academy graduates step up at Noah

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.

In brief

135 Edition

The Noah Courier

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The view from the top for Noah

42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Sergey Muradyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Aiás plays

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.

Market

The Matheus Aiás talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Daniil Antsiperov asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

134 Edition

The Noah Courier

19 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Artur Movsesyan is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

Kalifala Doumbia told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kalifala Doumbia has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Noah.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Noah

Something was said to Yuri Martirosyan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Squad

Yuri Martirosyan has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Noah know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Still no ink between Noah and Yuri Martirosyan

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Noah, another week without a signature from Yuri Martirosyan.

In brief

133 Edition

The Noah Courier

12 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Hélder Ferreira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Alexandre Rosado stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandre Rosado and Noah agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

6 new faces, and Noah 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.

The dugout

Valentin Costache has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alexandre Rosado

“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.

In brief

132 Edition

The Noah Courier

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Noah close the window on a squad of their own making

2 in and 5 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.

Market

Wanre Daikreo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Gandzasar watching Rob Nizet

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Noah have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Kalifala Doumbia in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Hélder Ferreira has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Noah take the armband off Gor Manvelyan

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.

Squad

This league is too small for Daniel Molina

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. Noah will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Boardroom

Noah sign a deal worth $443.2K a year

Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.

In brief

131 Edition

The Noah Courier

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The view from the top for Noah

42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Aiás is on it.

Market

The Matheus Aiás talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

A door opens for Gor Manvelyan

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.

Market

The shop window has Alexey Amelin in it

Noah have let the market know Alexey Amelin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

The dugout

The manager plants his flag on Gustavo Sangaré

“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Gustavo Sangaré’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.

Squad

Evgeny Kharin finally belongs at Noah

The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.

In brief

  • Squad Rok Frešer takes up the language
  • Boardroom Noah board back the manager
130 Edition

The Noah Courier

22 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hizdion Sulejmani

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Only the photograph left for Artur Movsesyan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artur Movsesyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Inter tell Noah: Orkhan Nazarov is not for sale

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.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dani Figueira

“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 dugout

A door opens for Nathanael Saintini

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.

Market

The David Sualehe talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

129 Edition

The Noah Courier

15 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hizdion Sulejmani

31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets

Narek Aghasaryan turns down Noah

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Urartu keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Boardroom

Noah to lose Hizdion Sulejmani for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Hizdion Sulejmani has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Hélder Ferreira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Arayik Eloyan

Noah asked and Ararat-Armenia 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 dugout

No hiding place for Kalifala Doumbia

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kalifala Doumbia, and the manager let it.

Squad

Noah are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

When it matters, Valentin Costache plays

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

128 Edition

The Noah Courier

8 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hizdion Sulejmani

39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Artur Movsesyan has said yes to Alashkert

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Noah have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Noah say no — this time

The offer from Gandzasar for Rob Nizet 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.

Market

Wanre Daikreo puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Narek Aghasaryan due for a Noah medical

Everything agreed with Urartu, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Gor Manvelyan signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gor Manvelyan and Noah agree another 3 years.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

Noah rebuffed over Erik Simonyan

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pyunik have kept their man, and Noah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

127 Edition

The Noah Courier

1 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Hizdion Sulejmani out for 46 days

46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The view from the top for Noah

42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

Matheus Aiás honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Noah had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Market

Jefferson Jefferson asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Daniil Antsiperov keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Sergey Muradyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Nathanael Saintini

“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 dugout

Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Aiás is on it.

In brief

126 Edition

The Noah Courier

25 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey 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.

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Arsen Beglaryan and Noah agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

When it matters, Gustavo Sangaré plays

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 dugout

Kalifala Doumbia has been promised minutes

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 Kalifala Doumbia has written the date down.

Market

The David Sualehe talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

125 Edition

The Noah Courier

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Kalifala Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Valentin Costache has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Valentin Costache question follows Noah around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valentin Costache’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

A season on the outside for Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Noah has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Squad

Daniil Antsiperov has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Noah will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

In brief

124 Edition

The Noah Courier

11 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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.

Squad

Kalifala Doumbia stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Kalifala Doumbia and Noah agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Henrikh Adamyan out for 15 days

The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Henrikh Adamyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

When it matters, Hélder Ferreira plays

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 dugout

Daniil Antsiperov gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

123 Edition

The Noah Courier

4 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Noah are top

42 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Squad

Evgeny Kharin arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Evgeny Kharin has, at Noah, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey 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.

Market

No place for Hélder Ferreira in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hélder Ferreira has his answer from Noah; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kalifala Doumbia

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kalifala Doumbia, and the manager let it.

Squad

Evgeny Kharin stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Evgeny Kharin and Noah agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Aiás is on it.

Market

Evgeny Kharin brings the grey hairs Noah lacked

At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.

In brief

122 Edition

The Noah Courier

27 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Archie Baptiste signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Archie Baptiste and Noah agree another 4 years.

Squad

6 new faces, and Noah 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.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Aram Khamoyan gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The David Sualehe talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Archie Baptiste joins Noah on a free

No fee and no drama: Archie Baptiste has signed at Noah, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

The dugout

A door opens for Kalifala Doumbia

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.

In brief

121 Edition

The Noah Courier

20 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Noah have won 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.

Squad

Matheus Aiás honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Noah had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad

Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov has just signed for Noah, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Sergey Muradyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nathanael Saintini

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nathanael Saintini, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Valentin Costache has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Valentin Costache question follows Noah around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valentin Costache’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kalifala Doumbia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

120 Edition

The Noah Courier

13 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Noah have won 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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

24 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.74 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Gustavo Sangaré sends Noah through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gustavo Sangaré obliged against Alashkert. 4‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Noah.

Player ratings

Valentin Costache beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Only the photograph left for Zaven Khudaverdyan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zaven Khudaverdyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

Gustavo Sangaré goes up and wins it — 7.71

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 7.71 for the rest of it.

Match

Noah make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Noah have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Noah training over how hard people work
  • Player ratings A masterclass from Matheus Aiás
  • Match Noah settle it inside twenty minutes
119 Edition

The Noah Courier

6 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 42 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Market

Matthew Corran is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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.

Squad

Rob Nizet signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rob Nizet commits to Noah for another 3 years.

Squad

A last season at home is what Cristián Magaña is after

It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Aiás plays

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.

Market

The Matheus Aiás talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Ilja Petrov asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

118 Edition

The Noah Courier

30 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Rob Nizet is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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.

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Arsen Beglaryan and Noah agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Home is on Cristián Magaña's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Noah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

When it matters, Gustavo Sangaré plays

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

117 Edition

The Noah Courier

23 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Hélder Ferreira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Sergey Muradyan has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Jefferson Jefferson has been promised minutes

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 Jefferson Jefferson has written the date down.

Market

David Sualehe linked with a move away

The name of David Sualehe keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Zaven Khudaverdyan asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Still no signature from Rob Nizet

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Noah could get for him.

Market

Luís Eduardo placed on the list

Noah have made Luís Eduardo available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Gustavo Sangaré

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Gustavo Sangaré has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

  • Boardroom The Noah board put their names to it
  • Squad Arsen Beglaryan is out on the grass again
116 Edition

The Noah Courier

16 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Zaven Khudaverdyan is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Noah are still strangers to each other

6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

Hélder Ferreira gets picked when it counts

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 Hélder Ferreira is on it.

Market

The Valentin Costache talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

The manager makes Jefferson Jefferson a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Noah. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Zaven Khudaverdyan asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

Daniil Antsiperov wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Noah will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

In brief

115 Edition

The Noah Courier

9 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 42 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

The dugout

Dani Figueira: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Market

Matthew Corran is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Nathanael Saintini signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nathanael Saintini and Noah agree another 3 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Arsen Beglaryan

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Noah will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alexey Ploschadny

“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 dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

114 Edition

The Noah Courier

2 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Alexey Ploschadny: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Rob Nizet is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Felipe Gutiérrez arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Felipe Gutiérrez has, at Noah, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

A step back for Alexey Ploschadny at Noah

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Boardroom

Noah release $1.4M for the manager

The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

The dugout

Nathanael Saintini knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nathanael Saintini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

113 Edition

The Noah Courier

25 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Hélder Ferreira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Sergey Muradyan gets picked when it counts

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 Sergey Muradyan is on it.

Squad

Oleg Korotkov is a square peg at Noah

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 dugout

Jefferson Jefferson has been promised minutes

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 Jefferson Jefferson has written the date down.

Market

David Sualehe linked with a move away

The name of David Sualehe keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré has company in his position

The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Gustavo Sangaré keeps the shirt for now, at Noah's convenience rather than his own.

Market

Still no signature from Rob Nizet

2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Noah could get for him.

In brief

112 Edition

The Noah Courier

18 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Kalifala Doumbia agrees terms with Aktobe

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Noah people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Zaven Khudaverdyan has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

6 new faces, and Noah 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.

Squad

Oleg Korotkov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Oleg Korotkov and Noah agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Hélder Ferreira gets picked when it counts

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 Hélder Ferreira is on it.

Market

The Valentin Costache talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Jefferson Jefferson knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Noah, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

111 Edition

The Noah Courier

11 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Jefferson Jefferson out for 15 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Noah are top

42 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Market

Matthew Corran has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Kalifala Doumbia attracts admirers

The name of Kalifala Doumbia has come up in conversations Noah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Home is on Wanre Daikreo's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Noah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kalifala Doumbia

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kalifala Doumbia, and the manager let it.

In brief

110 Edition

The Noah Courier

4 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Whatever happens, Noah do not lose

20 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.

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.74 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Noah march on in the cup

Ararat-Armenia are out and Noah go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Squad

22 days out for Jefferson Jefferson after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Brian Oddei scores twice — 8.93

Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Davit Davtyan agrees terms with Urartu

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Noah people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Zaven Khudaverdyan at 21 — 7.69

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zaven Khudaverdyan did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Only the photograph left for Rob Nizet

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rob Nizet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.

In brief

  • Boardroom Noah close the window on a squad of their own making
  • Market Wanre Daikreo puts it in writing
  • Squad Alexey Amelin arrives at the club he grew up with
109 Edition

The Noah Courier

28 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Jefferson Jefferson out for 30 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Pyunik come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Noah did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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.

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arsen Beglaryan commits to Noah for another 1 years.

The dugout

When it matters, David Sualehe plays

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 dugout

The manager makes Jefferson Jefferson a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Noah. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

The David Sualehe story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Sualehe signs something — a contract at Noah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Zaven Khudaverdyan knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Noah, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

108 Edition

The Noah Courier

21 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

37 days out for Jefferson Jefferson after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Rob Nizet agrees terms with Gandzasar

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Noah people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Only the photograph left for Zaven Khudaverdyan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zaven Khudaverdyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Noah say no — this time

The offer from Urartu for Davit Davtyan 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

Market

The Valentin Costache question follows Noah around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valentin Costache’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Dani Figueira has been promised minutes

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 Dani Figueira has written the date down.

In brief

107 Edition

The Noah Courier

14 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Jefferson Jefferson out for 44 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Yan Eteki says no to Pyunik

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yan Eteki had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Match

The view from the top for Noah

42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Noah turn down Aktobe for Kalifala Doumbia

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Yan Eteki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The Rob Nizet conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Gandzasar will make the call about Rob Nizet this week. Noah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

The dugout

When it matters, Hélder Ferreira plays

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 dugout

Kalifala Doumbia gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

106 Edition

The Noah Courier

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

51 days out for Jefferson Jefferson after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Yan Eteki in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Matthew Corran has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Yan Eteki linked with a move away

The name of Yan Eteki keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

Market

Eyes on Kalifala Doumbia again

The phone has started ringing about Kalifala Doumbia again, and this time the name on the line is Aktobe. Noah are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Brian Oddei signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brian Oddei and Noah agree another 4 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Sualehe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Alexey Ploschadny asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

105 Edition

The Noah Courier

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Hélder Ferreira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Maxim Tarasov is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Jefferson Jefferson gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

David Sualehe gets picked when it counts

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 David Sualehe is on it.

The dugout

Ilja Petrov knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Noah, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

A door opens for Dani Figueira

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.

Market

Zaven Khudaverdyan runs his contract down

4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Noah money.

Market

The Brian Oddei question follows Noah around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brian Oddei’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

104 Edition

The Noah Courier

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Ilja Petrov: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Zaven Khudaverdyan has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Zaven Khudaverdyan signs for Ararat-Armenia while still at Noah

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Zaven Khudaverdyan has agreed terms with Ararat-Armenia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Muradyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Kalifala Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Artem Korneev

“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 dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes Jefferson Jefferson a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Noah. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

David Sualehe linked with a move away

The name of David Sualehe keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

103 Edition

The Noah Courier

17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The view from the top for Noah

42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Yan Eteki turns Pyunik down

“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.

Market

Denis Gnedoy puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Hélder Ferreira gets picked when it counts

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 Hélder Ferreira is on it.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

The formation has left Wanre Daikreo behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Noah will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Market

The Valentin Costache story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentin Costache signs something — a contract at Noah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

102 Edition

The Noah Courier

10 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Matthew Corran asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Sergey Muradyan signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergey Muradyan and Noah agree another 5 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey 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.

Market

Pyunik expected to open talks for Yan Eteki

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Noah will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Noah lose Matthew Corran

17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Matheus Aiás talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Noah

Something was said to Wanre Daikreo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

101 Edition

The Noah Courier

3 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Whatever happens, Noah do not lose

19 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.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

22 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.74 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Noah finish in position 1

42 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Hélder Ferreira beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

A brace, and Matheus Aiás takes the afternoon — 8.83

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matheus Aiás provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Shakhter come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Noah did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Enri Mukba asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

Matthew Corran has agreed to leave Noah for nothing

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.

In brief

100 Edition

The Noah Courier

26 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 18. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

21 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.70 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

Not going: Zaven Khudaverdyan stays at Noah

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ararat-Armenia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Noah turn down Pyunik for Yan Eteki

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Realdo Fili hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The wait goes on for Noah

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Boardroom

Noah to lose Maxim Tarasov for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maxim Tarasov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Market

Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

In brief

  • Squad A falling-out at Noah
  • Squad Words at Noah training over how hard people work
  • Player ratings Nobody could get near Rob Nizet
99 Edition

The Noah Courier

19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

17 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 17 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Rob Nizet

Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Dani Figueira wins the shoot-out

2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.

Match

Noah through in the cup

A 1‑1 win over Shirak, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Market

Takuto Oshima has said yes to Ararat-Armenia

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Noah have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 38 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Market

Hizdion Sulejmani puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Alexey Ploschadny 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.

In brief

98 Edition

The Noah Courier

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 15. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Market

Yan Eteki says no to Pyunik

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yan Eteki had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Lucas Scicluna asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Alexey Ploschadny 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.

Squad

Valentin Costache is carrying Noah

12 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

The Takuto Oshima conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Ararat-Armenia will make the call about Takuto Oshima this week. Noah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

The dugout

Alexey Ploschadny gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

97 Edition

The Noah Courier

5 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Alexey Ploschadny stands alone

11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.74 with 22 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Noah run riot against Alashkert

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Both of them Matheus Aiás's — 9.43

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Takuto Oshima hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Gustavo Sangaré delivers — 7.94

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gustavo Sangaré scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Match

Noah make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Noah have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Sergey 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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.

In brief

96 Edition

The Noah Courier

29 May 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Noah run riot against Ararat

6‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

13 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

A brace, and Valentin Costache takes the afternoon — 9.73

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentin Costache provided it, and the 9.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

20 goals and a season average of 7.67 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

3 goals for Matheus Aiás

The match ball belongs to Matheus Aiás, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás in the eights

A performance of 9.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Matheus Aiás among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Matheus Aiás on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Noah and Ararat.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Grigor 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Takuto Oshima

Marked 8.34 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

  • Looking ahead Top-of-the-table clash for Noah
  • Squad Words at Noah training over how hard people work
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
95 Edition

The Noah Courier

22 May 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

18 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Noah run riot against Van

4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás scores twice — 9.64

Two goals and a mark of 9.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 30 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

17 goals and a season average of 7.58 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Aram Movsisyan asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Yan Eteki delivers — 7.98

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yan Eteki scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Alexey Ploschadny 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.

In brief

94 Edition

The Noah Courier

15 May 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

15 goals and a season average of 7.49 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Alexey Ploschadny 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.

Squad

Ilja Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.01. 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jefferson Jefferson

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jefferson Jefferson, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Takuto Oshima was unplayable

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.

The dugout

Grigor Hovhannisyan dropped after a run of poor form

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.

Match

Honours even between Noah and Pyunik

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

93 Edition

The Noah Courier

8 May 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

17 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Valentin Costache leads the rout of Gandzasar

3‑0, and Valentin Costache took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Noah tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

Valentin Costache takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Whatever happens, Noah do not lose

10 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.

Player ratings

Zaven Khudaverdyan, 20, steals the show — 7.69

Marked 7.69 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

Ilja Petrov signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilja Petrov and Noah agree another 2 years.

Squad

Alexey Ploschadny in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Valentin Costache in the eights

A performance of 9.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Hélder Ferreira

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

92 Edition

The Noah Courier

1 May 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

A brace, and Valentin Costache takes the afternoon — 9.02

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentin Costache provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

9 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

14 goals and a season average of 7.46 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Grigor Hovhannisyan signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Grigor Hovhannisyan and Noah agree another 3 years.

Player ratings

Hélder Ferreira runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Ilja Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Noah find a way past BKMA

BKMA made Noah work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Matheus Aiás at his very best

Marked 9.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Noah.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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.

In brief

91 Edition

The Noah Courier

24 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Noah refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 20 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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Dani Figueira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

The run is over for Noah

4 matches without defeat, and then Ararat-Armenia. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Hélder Ferreira runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Artem Korneev

“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 dugout

Dani Figueira knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Noah, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mkhitar Spertsyan was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Noah dressing room was either.

In brief

90 Edition

The Noah Courier

17 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Player ratings

Both of them Matheus Aiás's — 9.18

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Noah leave it late against Urartu

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Urartu spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Player ratings

Hélder Ferreira beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Nobody wants to play Noah right now

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.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.40 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Dani Figueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Matheus Aiás the difference as Noah beat Urartu

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matheus Aiás. 2‑1 against Urartu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Jefferson Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

89 Edition

The Noah Courier

10 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Noah are top

16 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

The dugout

Eric Boakye says Noah went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Aram Movsisyan hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Nobody wants to play Noah right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.31 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Valentin Costache the difference as Noah beat Shirak

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Valentin Costache. 2‑0 against Shirak, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

One of those days for Matheus Aiás

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

88 Edition

The Noah Courier

3 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ilja Petrov damages knee ligaments — 26 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Cruel end for Alashkert as Noah pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Noah scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Alexey Ploschadny signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexey Ploschadny commits to Noah for another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Match

Noah see off Alashkert

Three points for Noah, 2‑1 the final word against Alashkert in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Matheus Aiás

A mark of 7.95, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

In brief

87 Edition

The Noah Courier

27 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Takuto Oshima asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

Cruel end for Ararat as Noah pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Noah scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Dani Figueira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alexey Ploschadny

“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.

Match

Noah find a way past Ararat

Ararat made Noah work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Jordy Monroy falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.18. 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.

In brief

86 Edition

The Noah Courier

20 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Ilja Petrov out for 40 days

40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Noah throw away a 3-goal lead

3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Van the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Noah will enjoy reviewing.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia says Noah went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Dani Figueira signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dani Figueira and Noah agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Dani Figueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Valentin Costache at his very best

Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Noah.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

One of those days for Realdo Fili

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Takuto Oshima was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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.

In brief

85 Edition

The Noah Courier

13 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Noah run riot against Pyunik

6‑3, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

4 goals for Matheus Aiás

The match ball belongs to Matheus Aiás, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Market

Aram Movsisyan hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Artur Movsesyan

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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Matheus Aiás

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Matheus Aiás among the goals in a wild afternoon

9 goals in one match, Matheus Aiás on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Noah and Pyunik.

In brief

84 Edition

The Noah Courier

6 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

No mercy from Noah

Gandzasar will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Noah were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Market

Not going: Kalifala Doumbia stays at Noah

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Aktobe had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

The dugout

Alexey Ploschadny keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Noah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

3 goals for Matheus Aiás

The match ball belongs to Matheus Aiás, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Boardroom

Noah told to sell

The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Dani Figueira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.99. 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.

In brief

83 Edition

The Noah Courier

28 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Ilja Petrov out for 61 days

61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Takuto Oshima hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Tobol watching Kalifala Doumbia

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Noah have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Dani Figueira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Artur Movsesyan

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artur Movsesyan, and the manager let it.

Squad

A wage question at Noah

Alexey Ploschadny 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.

Market

The Valentin Costache story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentin Costache signs something — a contract at Noah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

82 Edition

The Noah Courier

21 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Dani Figueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Sangaré 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 dugout

When it matters, Gustavo Sangaré plays

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.

Squad

No place for Alexandre Rosado in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Noah are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Market

The Matheus Aiás talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

81 Edition

The Noah Courier

14 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

The view from the top for Noah

48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Aram Movsisyan hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

Noah lose Jordy Monroy

19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Monroy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Noah sign Alexandre Rosado, one for the future

Alexandre Rosado is 19, and Noah 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Eric Boakye

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Boakye, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Takuto Oshima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

80 Edition

The Noah Courier

7 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Ilja Petrov out for 85 days

85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Yan Eteki says no to Pyunik

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yan Eteki had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Zaven Khudaverdyan puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 2 signed and 4 gone

That is the business done at Noah 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

Gustavo Sangaré falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

8 new faces, and Noah 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.

The dugout

David Sualehe gets picked when it counts

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 David Sualehe is on it.

Market

Still no signature from Takuto Oshima

5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Noah could get for him.

In brief

79 Edition

The Noah Courier

31 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Ilja Petrov out for 92 days

92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Takuto Oshima asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Sogdiana come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Noah did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Dani Figueira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Hizdion Sulejmani arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hizdion Sulejmani has, at Noah, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

Pyunik expected to open talks for Yan Eteki

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Noah will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

Noah sign Hizdion Sulejmani, one for the future

Hizdion Sulejmani is 19, and Noah 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.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

78 Edition

The Noah Courier

24 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ilja Petrov damages knee ligaments — 99 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Rob Nizet asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Dani Figueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordy Monroy 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 dugout

Dani Figueira knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dani Figueira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

In brief

77 Edition

The Noah Courier

17 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

The view from the top for Noah

48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

Jordy Monroy falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Takuto Oshima plays

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 dugout

Dani Figueira knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dani Figueira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

76 Edition

The Noah Courier

10 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Yan Eteki says no to Pyunik

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yan Eteki had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

BKMA come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Noah did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hélder Ferreira 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.

Squad

Noah are still strangers to each other

6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Market

No place for Zaven Khudaverdyan in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Zaven Khudaverdyan has his answer from Noah; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

When it matters, David Sualehe plays

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Artur Movsesyan

“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.

In brief

75 Edition

The Noah Courier

3 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ilja Petrov damages knee ligaments — 122 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 122 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Noah say no — this time

The offer from Ararat-Armenia for Takuto Oshima 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.

Squad

14 days out for Arsen Beglaryan after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Matheus Aiás honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Noah had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Market

Davit Petrosyan puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Market

Still no ink between Noah and Takuto Oshima

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Noah, another week without a signature from Takuto Oshima.

Transfer targets

Noah try to borrow Ian Vera

Estudiantes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Market

Rob Nizet is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Noah has been clear about where Rob Nizet stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Eric Boakye
  • The dugout Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts
  • Boardroom Open for business: Noah enter the window
74 Edition

The Noah Courier

27 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ilja Petrov damages knee ligaments — 129 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 129 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 21 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Reuben Cooper puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Dani Figueira 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Monroy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

In brief

73 Edition

The Noah Courier

20 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Ilja Petrov out for 138 days

138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Noah are top

48 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan breaks a bone — 28 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Dani Figueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hélder Ferreira 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 dugout

When it matters, Takuto Oshima plays

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

72 Edition

The Noah Courier

13 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilja Petrov

145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

36 days out for Arsen Beglaryan after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Dani Figueira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Matthew Corran at Noah

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matthew Corran is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

The dugout

Kalifala Doumbia gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

Talks stall between Noah and Kalifala Doumbia

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

The dugout

David Sualehe gets picked when it counts

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 David Sualehe is on it.

The dugout

A door opens for Eric Boakye

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.

Market

Brian Oddei linked with a move away

The name of Brian Oddei keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

71 Edition

The Noah Courier

6 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 43 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Ilja Petrov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Maxim Tarasov is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dani Figueira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Still no ink between Noah and Dani Figueira

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Noah, another week without a signature from Dani Figueira.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Aiás plays

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 dugout

Dani Figueira knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dani Figueira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

11 months and counting on Rob Nizet

Still no offer on the table, and Rob Nizet’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

Market

Still no signature from Takuto Oshima

7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Noah could get for him.

In brief

70 Edition

The Noah Courier

29 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 51 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dani Figueira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Zaven Khudaverdyan returns a better player

12 games and 0 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.

Squad

11 new faces, and Noah 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.

The dugout

Dani Figueira knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dani Figueira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

Market

The Valentin Costache talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Matthew Corran joins Noah on a free

No fee and no drama: Matthew Corran has signed at Noah, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

In brief

69 Edition

The Noah Courier

22 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Silverware for Noah

They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 48 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 58 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Noah will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Market

Reuben Cooper puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Alexey Ploschadny 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.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Petrov 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.

Loan watch

Kalifala Doumbia has seen enough of Aktobe

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Noah, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

Takuto Oshima gets picked when it counts

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 Takuto Oshima is on it.

In brief

68 Edition

The Noah Courier

15 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Noah have won 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.

Match

After 20 games, Noah finally taste it again

The first defeat in 20 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Ararat-Armenia; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Match

The small margins put Noah out

Out, 1‑2 to Ararat-Armenia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan breaks a bone — 65 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Alexey Ploschadny keeps Noah in it on his own

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.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.46 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Yan Eteki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ilja Petrov

“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.

In brief

67 Edition

The Noah Courier

8 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan breaks a bone — 72 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Ploschadny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

A season on the outside for Jefferson Jefferson

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Noah has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Market

David Sualehe linked with a move away

The name of David Sualehe keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

66 Edition

The Noah Courier

1 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

80 days out for Arsen Beglaryan after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Petrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Talks stall between Noah and Takuto Oshima

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

10 new faces, and Noah 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.

Loan watch

Zaven Khudaverdyan counts the days

“I watch every Noah game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ararat runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

David Sualehe has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Aram Movsisyan gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

A door opens for Eric Boakye

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.

In brief

65 Edition

The Noah Courier

25 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 88 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

The view from the top for Noah

48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

Noah count the cost of losing Yan Eteki

31 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Yan Eteki in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Petrov 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.

Loan watch

Kalifala Doumbia has seen enough of Aktobe

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Noah, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

64 Edition

The Noah Courier

18 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 96 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Ilja Petrov 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.

Squad

Ilja Petrov needs a bigger stage

He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Noah know which stage they are at.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hélder Ferreira 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 dugout

Gustavo Sangaré gets picked when it counts

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 Gustavo Sangaré is on it.

Loan watch

Nobody is scoring past Dani Figueira at Alashkert

8 shut-outs in 18 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Dani Figueira has been having a lot of them.

In brief

63 Edition

The Noah Courier

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

104 days out for Arsen Beglaryan after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Noah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 17 days

17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Jefferson Jefferson arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jefferson Jefferson has, at Noah, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Boardroom

Noah agree a free transfer for Abube Onuchukwu

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.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Aiás plays

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.

Market

Ilja Petrov joins Noah to strengthen the squad

Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Noah have gone and got theirs early.

Market

Jefferson Jefferson joins Noah to strengthen the squad

Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Noah have gone and got theirs early.

Market

David Sualehe linked with a move away

The name of David Sualehe keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

62 Edition

The Noah Courier

4 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan breaks a bone — 111 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 26 days

26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Jordy Monroy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Valentin Costache is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Valentin Costache 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.

Loan watch

Zaven Khudaverdyan wants to come home

“I did not go to Ararat to sit and watch. I want to come back to Noah and fight for my place.” 12 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.

The dugout

David Sualehe gets picked when it counts

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 David Sualehe is on it.

Market

The Sergey Muradyan question follows Noah around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sergey Muradyan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

A door opens for Hovhannes Hambardzumyan

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.

Market

Noah put Denis Gnedoy up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Denis Gnedoy may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

61 Edition

The Noah Courier

27 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan breaks a bone — 118 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 35 days

35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The view from the top for Noah

48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Reuben Cooper asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Yan Eteki in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Reuben Cooper gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Reuben Cooper has just signed for Noah, and for once the answer mattered.

Loan watch

Kalifala Doumbia counts the days

“I watch every Noah game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aktobe runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Market

Noah sign Reuben Cooper, one for the future

Reuben Cooper is 20, and Noah 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.

The dugout

Takuto Oshima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

60 Edition

The Noah Courier

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Arsen Beglaryan breaks a bone — 125 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 43 days

43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Yan Eteki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Reuben Cooper is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Eric Boakye

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Boakye, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Gustavo Sangaré plays

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.

Loan watch

8 clean sheets on loan for Dani Figueira

18 appearances at Alashkert and the goals have stopped going in. Noah lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.

Market

The Valentin Costache story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentin Costache signs something — a contract at Noah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

Daniil Antsiperov joins Noah to strengthen the squad

Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Noah have gone and got theirs early.

In brief

59 Edition

The Noah Courier

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Arsen Beglaryan out for 133 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Noah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 51 days

51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Daniil Antsiperov due for a Noah medical

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Alexandr Mishiev

At 23 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.

Loan watch

Alexey Ploschadny counts the days

“I watch every Noah game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Apollon runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Aiás is on it.

Market

David Sualehe linked with a move away

The name of David Sualehe keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

Market

The market said no: Yan Eteki stays put

Noah opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Yan Eteki stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.

In brief

58 Edition

The Noah Courier

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 20. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Johan Bacca damages knee ligaments — 58 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Matheus Aiás sends Noah through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Matheus Aiás obliged against Shirak. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Noah.

Match

Noah leave it late against Shirak

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Shirak spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Player ratings

Valentin Costache was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Matheus Aiás is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.46 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 17 in, 10 out at Noah

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Yan Eteki 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

57 Edition

The Noah Courier

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Johan Bacca

66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 48 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Market

Sergey Muradyan says no to Dinamo Brest

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sergey Muradyan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Squad

Artem Korneev gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Artem Korneev has just signed for Noah, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Jordy Monroy 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.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Takuto Oshima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Noah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

Noah bring in an old head

Arsen Beglaryan is 34 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.

Market

Yan Eteki linked with a move away

The name of Yan Eteki keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

56 Edition

The Noah Courier

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Johan Bacca damages knee ligaments — 74 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 74 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Transfer targets

Noah agree $86.0K for Arsen Beglaryan

The clubs have shaken hands with Alashkert; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Dinamo Brest watching Sergey Muradyan

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Noah have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Transfer targets

Artem Korneev due for a Noah medical

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.

Transfer targets

Matteo Raffaelli will not be coming to Noah

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ascoli is saying, and nobody at Noah is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Jordy Monroy 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.

Squad

Words at Noah 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Hovhannes Hambardzumyan

“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 dugout

When it matters, Gustavo Sangaré plays

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

55 Edition

The Noah Courier

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 81 days

81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The terraces

A $630.0K sale, and a town that did not want it

Sudais Ali Baba has gone, the accounts have $630.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Market

Business is business: Sudais Ali Baba goes

Shirak paid $630.0K and Noah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Jordy Monroy in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Noah are still strangers to each other

8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Loan watch

Alexey Ploschadny has seen enough of Apollon

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Noah, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

When it matters, David Sualehe plays

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 dugout

Eric Boakye asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

54 Edition

The Noah Courier

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 89 days

89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Terms done: Sudais Ali Baba is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shirak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Noah is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Noah walk away from Arman Nersesyan

$640.0K was the most the club would pay and Ararat-Armenia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Jordy Monroy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Almagro tell Noah: Mattia Ciancaglini is not for sale

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.

Squad

Hovhannes Hambardzumyan signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hovhannes Hambardzumyan commits to Noah for another 2 years.

Boardroom

95% of the income goes out in wages at Noah

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.

The dugout

Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Aiás is on it.

In brief

53 Edition

The Noah Courier

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Johan Bacca

97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 48 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Transfer targets

Noah agree $640.0K for Arman Nersesyan

The clubs have shaken hands with Ararat-Armenia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Fakel join the queue for Kalifala Doumbia

Add another name to the list: Fakel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kalifala Doumbia. The answer from Noah has not changed — yet.

Squad

Enri Mukba arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Enri Mukba has, at Noah, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Yan Eteki in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Takuto Oshima plays

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.

Market

Yan Eteki linked with a move away

The name of Yan Eteki keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

52 Edition

The Noah Courier

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Johan Bacca out for 105 days

105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The terraces

Noah sell a favourite for $780.0K

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mario González was one of the reasons people came, and $780.0K does not replace that by itself.

Transfer targets

Mattia Ciancaglini turns down Noah

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Almagro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Yan Eteki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Noah sell Mario González for $780.0K

Mario González has left for Pyunik in a $780.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

A move Denis Titow would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Denis Titow is living that version at Noah, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hélder Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Agropecuario Argentino tell Noah: Alejo Medina is not for sale

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.

Market

A long bet from Noah on Denis Titow

He is 20, and nobody at Noah signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief

51 Edition

The Noah Courier

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Davit Davtyan says Noah went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Kalifala Doumbia turns Dinamo Batumi down

“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.

Market

Noah say no — this time

The offer from Torpedo-BelAZ for Sergey 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 terraces

A $780.0K sale, and a town that did not want it

Marin Jakoliš has gone, the accounts have $780.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Market

Business is business: Marin Jakoliš goes

Van paid $780.0K and Noah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Noah beat the market to Matthew Corran from Urartu

Urartu will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Matthew Corran has pre-agreed a move to Noah, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Transfer targets

Noah rebuffed over Guillermo Rivas

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maipú have kept their man, and Noah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

50 Edition

The Noah Courier

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Mario González puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Eyes on Kalifala Doumbia again

The phone has started ringing about Kalifala Doumbia again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Batumi. Noah are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Valentin Costache falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Jordy Monroy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

123% of the income goes out in wages at Noah

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.

Squad

Sudais Ali Baba wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Noah can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Market

Still no ink between Noah and Takuto Oshima

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Noah, another week without a signature from Takuto Oshima.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Gustavo Sangaré

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Noah told Gustavo Sangaré something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Transfer targets

Noah try to borrow Guillermo Rivas

Maipú have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

  • Squad Noah are still strangers to each other
  • The dugout No hiding place for Realdo Fili
  • The dugout Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts
49 Edition

The Noah Courier

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

19 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 19 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 48 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Hélder Ferreira

Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Sergey Muradyan turns Inter down

“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.

Match

The season ends: position 1 for Noah

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 48 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

The terraces

Noah sell a favourite for $780.0K

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Clinton Dombila was one of the reasons people came, and $780.0K does not replace that by itself.

Match

Noah make home a hard place to visit

11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Transfer targets

Alexandr Mishiev is a medical away from Noah

The deal with Urartu 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.

Market

Noah sell Clinton Dombila for $780.0K

Clinton Dombila has left for Ararat in a $780.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

In brief

  • Squad Defences have started doubling up on Valentin Costache
  • Squad Words at Noah training over how hard people work
  • Squad Words exchanged at Noah
48 Edition

The Noah Courier

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Yan Eteki puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Ararat come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Noah did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

The terraces

A $710.0K sale, and a town that did not want it

Gonçalo Gregório has gone, the accounts have $710.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

15 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Noah make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Noah have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Yan Eteki out for 17 days

The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Yan Eteki, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

Sergey Muradyan attracts admirers

The name of Sergey Muradyan has come up in conversations Noah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Market

Business is business: Gonçalo Gregório goes

Ararat paid $710.0K and Noah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Noah training over how hard people work
  • Squad Tempers go at Noah
  • Player ratings Marin Jakoliš beats them one at a time
47 Edition

The Noah Courier

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Noah march on in the cup

Alashkert are out and Noah go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

No mercy from Noah

Urartu will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Noah were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Brian Oddei scores twice — 9.51

Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Elton Bessunha puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

14 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Noah make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Noah have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

The run at home goes on for Noah

9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Matheus Aiás at his very best

Marked 9.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Noah.

In brief

46 Edition

The Noah Courier

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Still nobody has beaten Noah

The unbeaten run reaches 15. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

A brace, and Brian Oddei takes the afternoon — 9.26

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brian Oddei provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Mert Bulut asks to leave Noah

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Noah find a way past Shirak

Shirak made Noah work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Match

Nobody wins at Noah

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Boardroom

128% of the income goes out in wages at Noah

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.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Matheus Aiás'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.

In brief

45 Edition

The Noah Courier

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, Noah do not lose

14 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.

Match

Nobody above Noah

First, on 38 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Player ratings

A brace, and Valentin Costache takes the afternoon — 8.75

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentin Costache provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Daniel Viljoen puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Yan Eteki in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Valentin Costache is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.37 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Costache 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.

Market

Yan Eteki told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yan Eteki has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Noah.

Market

Eyes on Alexey Ploschadny again

The phone has started ringing about Alexey Ploschadny again, and this time the name on the line is Apollon. Noah are listening politely and promising nothing.

In brief

44 Edition

The Noah Courier

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Nobody wants to play Noah right now

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Hélder Ferreira

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

13 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Yan Eteki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Noah

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Noah see off Ararat

Three points for Noah, 2‑0 the final word against Ararat in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

One of those days for Matheus Aiás

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Looking ahead

Noah and Alashkert meet at the summit

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.

Player ratings

Valentin Costache was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.06. 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.

In brief

  • Squad Getting past Timothy Fayulu has become the hardest job in the division
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Matheus Aiás gets picked when it counts
43 Edition

The Noah Courier

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Noah run riot against Van

5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Matheus Aiás scores twice — 9.64

Two goals and a mark of 9.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Both of them Valentin Costache's — 9.35

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Noah make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Noah have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Noah

Yan Eteki 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Matheus Aiás

12 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Hélder Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Van blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Van tried to reorganise, Noah did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

Player ratings

Hélder Ferreira was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.20. 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.

In brief

42 Edition

The Noah Courier

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Sergey Muradyan breaks Pyunik hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Sergey Muradyan scored in the 89th minute, Pyunik had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Noah took the lot.

Match

11 unbeaten for Noah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Noah did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Words at Noah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Costache 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Noah

Jordy Monroy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Sergey Muradyan

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.

Match

Noah see off Pyunik

Three points for Noah, 1‑0 the final word against Pyunik in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Valentin Costache runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Sergey Muradyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Boardroom

121% of the income goes out in wages at Noah

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.

In brief