Marked for Danil Sobolev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market26 Oct 2037
“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 The request is on a desk at Chernihiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
Luann, 36, rolls back the years — 7.82
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Oct 2037
4 matches without a win for Chernihiv
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chernihiv are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Oct 2037
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chernihiv and Vorskla, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luann 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.
Match24 Oct 2037
Chernihiv are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2037
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market5 Oct 2037
“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 ratings5 Oct 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2037
45 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chernihiv know what they have.
Market5 Oct 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chernihiv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Oct 2037
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Danil Sobolev 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.
Match3 Oct 2037
2‑3 to Inhulets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2037
Luann 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2037
$402.6K of the owner's money at Chernihiv
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2037
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Sep 2037
“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 Chernihiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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 ratings28 Sep 2037
A performance of 9.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match26 Sep 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrii-Bohdan Heinyk. 1‑0 against Ahrobiznes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Age has not caught Danil Sobolev yet — 8.48
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.48 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2037
$360.6K of the owner's money at Chernihiv
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match5 Sep 2037
A 2‑0 win over Feniks, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom7 Sep 2037
No signings allowed at Chernihiv
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Danil Sobolev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2037
No end in sight to Chernihiv's wait for a win
26 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernihiv has to find a result from somewhere.
Market10 Aug 2037
“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 Chernihiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Yehor Shalfieiev 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 ratings10 Aug 2037
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Facundo Barreto wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Chernihiv now know that too.
Match8 Aug 2037
Victoriia Sumy left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom10 Aug 2037
No signings allowed at Chernihiv
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad10 Aug 2037
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Danil Sobolev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Jul 2037
“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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom20 Jul 2037
91% of the income goes out in wages at Chernihiv
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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Too much change too quickly at Chernihiv
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market20 Jul 2037
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chernihiv know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom13 Jul 2037
Pressure builds in the Chernihiv boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market13 Jul 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Jul 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Luann 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.
Boardroom13 Jul 2037
No signings allowed at Chernihiv
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Jul 2037
Chernihiv sink to position 15
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market6 Jul 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Jul 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yehor Shalfieiev commits to Chernihiv for another 2 years.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Boardroom6 Jul 2037
The owner puts $347.1K into Chernihiv
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Jul 2037
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernihiv told Markiian Bakus something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom15 Jun 2037
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chernihiv
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market15 Jun 2037
“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.
Squad15 Jun 2037
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Yehor Shalfieiev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom15 Jun 2037
No signings allowed at Chernihiv
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad15 Jun 2037
“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 Chernihiv know it.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Elias Arifagic 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.
Market15 Jun 2037
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chernihiv, another week without a signature from Andrii-Bohdan Heinyk.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 May 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 May 2037
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Boardroom25 May 2037
95% of the income goes out in wages at Chernihiv
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 May 2037
Chernihiv are in real trouble now
Position 15, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad11 May 2037
A fracture rules Duván Viáfara out for 72 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernihiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 May 2037
“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 Chernihiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Apr 2037
Chernihiv are in real trouble now
Position 15, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad13 Apr 2037
A fracture rules Duván Viáfara out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernihiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Apr 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Raúl Lozano 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 Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Apr 2037
A last season at home is what Agustín Acosta 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Mar 2037
The scrutiny sharpens at Chernihiv
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chernihiv is running low.
Market23 Mar 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Boardroom23 Mar 2037
No signings allowed at Chernihiv
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Elias Arifagic 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.
Squad23 Mar 2037
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Nov 2036
Agustín Gallo damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
The terraces17 Nov 2036
Anger at Chernihiv spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match15 Nov 2036
The wait goes on for Chernihiv
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings17 Nov 2036
Age has not caught Danil Sobolev yet — 8.53
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.53 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Keagan Mokotjo: 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.” Chernihiv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Nov 2036
Martin Soucek has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernihiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Match15 Nov 2036
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 May 2036
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Boardroom26 May 2036
117% of the income goes out in wages at Chernihiv
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.
Squad26 May 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Apr 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Apr 2036
“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; Chernihiv are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Agustín Gallo 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. Chernihiv know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market14 Apr 2036
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Chernihiv money.