Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Heorhiy Buialskyi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arthur Nasta is on it.
In brief
BoardroomNobody arrives at Chernihiv until somebody leaves
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.
“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.
Chernihiv had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metalist, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“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 The request is on a desk at Chernihiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Epicentr is saying, and nobody at Chernihiv is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nyva have kept their man, and Chernihiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Arthur Nasta is on it.
In brief
BoardroomNobody arrives at Chernihiv until somebody leaves
The dugoutArthur Nasta knocks on the manager’s door
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.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Feniks were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Chernihiv had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metalist, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernihiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 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.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karpaty have kept their man, and Chernihiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernihiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
7 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.
Arthur Nasta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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 words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
This is not rotation. Nikita Tepliakov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chernihiv is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
An order from above at Chernihiv: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
The deal with Vorskla 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Chernihiv is enjoying the guessing.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
“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.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arthur Nasta is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutArtur Bybik asks for a word with the manager
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The deal with Metalist 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Metalist is saying, and nobody at Chernihiv is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kledi Marinaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chernihiv, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Stanislav Oksenenko is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
A new face in his position, and Omelian Wiliam Chubak suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Chernihiv have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chernihiv, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jacek Czapliński may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernihiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Maksym Serdiuk has come out of that comparison in the side, and Chernihiv have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
“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.
Ivan Bendera 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.
6 goals in one match, Maksym Serdiuk on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chernihiv and Ahrobiznes.
Chernihiv asked and Epicentr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nyva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chernihiv is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arthur Nasta is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Chernihiv 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.
Maksym Serdiuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kamil Lipiński has, at Chernihiv, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denys Bezborodko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernihiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernihiv have done the hard part with Poltava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Chernihiv had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kolos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chernihiv had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metalist, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Chernihiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maksym Serdiuk. 2‑1 against Probiy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Heorhiy Buialskyi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chernihiv people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Heorhiy Buialskyi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
“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.
The deal with Metalist 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dynamo Kyiv is saying, and nobody at Chernihiv is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Chernihiv asked and Rukh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Position 15 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Victoriia Sumy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Chernihiv pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
18 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.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Chernihiv know it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Steliyan Stoyanov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Chernihiv have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chernihiv can tell you which week it ends in.
Ivan Bendera was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Maksym Serdiuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Nobody at Chernihiv 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Metalurh Zaporizhzhia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artur Bybik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chernihiv would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chernihiv can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
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 medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for Kledi Marinaj, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Heorhiy Buialskyi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
10 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.
Position 15 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
6 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.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Heorhiy Buialskyi after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.40, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The phone has started ringing about Denys Bezborodko again, and this time the name on the line is Nyva. Chernihiv are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Chernihiv 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.
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.
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.
Everybody at Chernihiv saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Chernihiv asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The deal with Dynamo Kyiv 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.
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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.
Chernihiv have made the call to Ahrobiznes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nyva had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yehor Shalfieiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Chernihiv asked and Veres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Viktor Tymoschuk is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karpaty have kept their man, and Chernihiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Inhulets next, and one man in the Chernihiv dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Denys Bezborodko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chernihiv people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Oleksandriya is saying, and nobody at Chernihiv is enjoying the guessing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernihiv have done the hard part with Poltava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernihiv told Maksym Shumylo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Everything agreed with Chornomorets, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Chernihiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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.
Chornomorets 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.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Chernihiv asked and Karpaty said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernihiv told Dzhilindo Bezhubchenko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The clubs have shaken hands with Oleksandriya; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Chernihiv had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Oleksandriya, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Anatolii Romanchenko has his answer from Chernihiv; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chernihiv, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nikita Tepliakov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Steliyan Stoyanov has just signed for Chernihiv, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tepliakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Tepliakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Tepliakov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yehor Shalfieiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 15 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Maksym Serdiuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Chernihiv are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacek Czapliński trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dmytro Fatieiev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Vitalii Lobko is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chernihiv. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Chernihiv until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Obolon keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleksii Plichko has just signed for Chernihiv, and for once the answer mattered.
“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.
Chernihiv had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Karpaty, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joe Ashton has, at Chernihiv, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Chernihiv asked and Oleksandriya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 125% of everything Chernihiv earn
Position 15 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Maksym Tatarenko was one of the reasons people came, and $1.5M does not replace that by itself.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Oleksandriya keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Maksym Serdiuk 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.
15 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.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Shushko 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.
14 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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 Dec 2026
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.43 on the card, and the Chernihiv support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Heorhiy Buialskyi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chernihiv dressing room was either.
Maksym Serdiuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yehor Shalfieiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia next, and one man in the Chernihiv dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
They sit in position 12 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.