UPFROnTUPFROnT
DID YOU
K n OW?
ARSENAL AND SPURS
BOTH WANTED TO PLAY
AT ALEXANDRA PALACETHE DREAM FACTORY
Ryan Baldi
(Polaris, £17.99)
●●●●●A raft of England stars have
graduated from their clubs’
academies – but the journey
from wide-eyed local boy to
superstar is a rocky one.
In this book, Baldi discusses
the philosophy behind player
development at Man City, as
espoused by sporting director
Txiki Begiristain, chief executive
Ferran Soriano and manager
Pep Guardiola, pointing out that
before Phil Foden’s emergence,
defender Micah Richards was
their last graduate to break in.
Perhaps more revealing is the
discussion with Bury’s former
academy boss Mark Litherland,
whose account of the Shakers’
demise and its brutal impact
on the club’s youngsters makes
for sobering reading.
Despite a more scientific and
holistic approach to nurturing
young players, the dropout rate
from academies is still sizeable;
the terse ‘Dear Parent/Guardian’
letters posted out by so many
clubs cast aside heartbroken
kids with barely a thought for
their long-term wellbeing.
Broad in scope and perfectly
executed, The Dream Factory
is an often-cautionary – but
sometimes uplifting – read.
Jon SpurlingREQUIRED
READInG
In Armenian folklore, Noah’s Ark still rests on the slopes
of Mount Ararat, the giant peak overlooking the capital
city of Yerevan.
Admittedly, no one has ever found it yet, despite a raft of
searches more extensive than the hunt for the Loch Ness
Monster, so the prospects of stumbling across a 600-foot
boot at the top of a mountain appear slim at this point.
Ararat – higher than Mont Blanc, at 16,854ft tall – actually
resides in Turkey these days, but remains Armenia’s national
symbol and lends its name to two of the country’s biggest
football clubs, Ararat Yerevan and Ararat-Armenia.
They’ve now been joined by an outfit named after Noah
himself, that chap who gathered a selection of the world’s
animals in pairs and then stuck them on a ship to overcome
a massive flood. It must have been quite the tidal surge, if
his ark ended up at the top of a mountain.
FC Noah were actually founded in 2017 under the name of
FC Artsakh, and earned promotion to the Armenian Premier
League in their very first season. They found life harder once
they got there, though, finishing second bottom to prompt
a takeover by army chief Karen Abrahamyan.
The club were rebranded FC Noah, complete with exactly
the sort of no-nonsense crest you’d expect from an army
chief – absolutely no attempt at design or pictures, literally
just the words ‘YEREVAN ARMENIA FOOTBALL CLUB NOAH’
stacked on top of each other.
FC Noah immediately finished second in 2019-20, lifting
the Armenian Cup having come from 3-0 down in a crazy
final against Ararat-Armenia: after a 5-5 draw, they won an
epic 18-kick penalty shootout. That earned them a place in
the Europa League, although they lost 4-1 to Kazakh side
Kairat Almaty.RAnDOM CLUB PROFILE
After another second-placed finish, the team were back in
Europe again this term – prompting smiles all round when
sporting director Hayk Hovakimyan held an FC Noah-themed
wedding in the summer. Sadly, their foray into the Europa
Conference League was short-lived: after a 1-0 win at home
to KuPS, the second leg in Finland ended with a 5-0 defeat
which featured an own goal from defender Jordy Monroy,
a former Uber driver from Bogota.
Monroy at least looked like he’d got over the sorrow when
he posed with cats and dogs recently, as part of the club’s
link-up with a local animal rescue shelter. It’s not yet known
whether he then stuck them on a big boat and sent them up
Mount Ararat.
Chris FlanaganFC NOAH
True to their Biblical name, the animal-saving Armenians are going two by two
ALL THE TOP SPONSORS Crewe’s Gresty Road home,
since renamed The Mornflake Stadium, features an
‘Ice Cream Van Stand’ and the ‘Rhino Safety Stand’FourFourTwo June 2022 19