Leo Black

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19 Dec 2027
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Marked for Leo Black

71 Edition

The Feniks Herald

6 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout6 Dec 2027

Roman Kovaliuk keeps the receipts

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

Squad6 Dec 2027

Real improvement from Vladyslav Siryk at Feniks

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vladyslav Siryk is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad6 Dec 2027

Tempers go at Feniks

Andrii Kukharuk 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

A row about effort at Feniks

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

Squad6 Dec 2027

Home is on Vanderlei'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; Feniks are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Match4 Dec 2027

Feniks share the spoils with Metalist

A 1‑1 draw with Metalist leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout6 Dec 2027

No hiding place for Leo Black

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

The dugout6 Dec 2027

Half-satisfied: Vitaliy Babenko on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout6 Dec 2027

When it matters, Vitalii Zhupanskyi 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

Back issues
65 Edition

The Feniks Herald

25 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad25 Oct 2027

A knee injury of the worst kind for Roman Hahun

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

Squad25 Oct 2027

Vitalii Zhupanskyi breaks a bone — 24 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad25 Oct 2027

A falling-out at Feniks

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

Squad25 Oct 2027

Andrii Bohdanov pulls a muscle — 14 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Match23 Oct 2027

A bad afternoon for Feniks against Victoriia Sumy

1‑2 to Victoriia Sumy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout25 Oct 2027

No hiding place for Oleh Synytsia

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

Match23 Oct 2027

No time for Victoriia Sumy to settle

The goal that put Victoriia Sumy ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Feniks equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.

The dugout25 Oct 2027

Vitaliy Babenko faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vitaliy Babenko after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Player ratings25 Oct 2027

Timon Näpfer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

64 Edition

The Feniks Herald

18 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad18 Oct 2027

A knee injury of the worst kind for Roman Hahun

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

Squad18 Oct 2027

Vitalii Zhupanskyi breaks a bone — 31 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings18 Oct 2027

A brace, and Denys Bida takes the afternoon — 8.57

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Denys Bida provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad18 Oct 2027

Andrii Kukharuk 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 Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match16 Oct 2027

Feniks get the job done against Nyva

A 3‑2 win over Nyva, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad18 Oct 2027

A row about effort at Feniks

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

The terraces18 Oct 2027

The crowd has taken to Oleksandr Melnyk

At 21 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.

Match16 Oct 2027

Denys Bida at the heart of a fast Feniks start

2 goals inside twenty minutes with Denys Bida in the middle of it, and Nyva unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.

Player ratings18 Oct 2027

One moment undoes Leo Black

There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Denys Balan
  • Boardroom Feniks counting the cost
28 Edition

The Feniks Herald

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad8 Feb 2027

A knee injury of the worst kind for Valerii Kucherov

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

Player ratings8 Feb 2027

Up for the corner, and Andrii Bohdanov delivers — 7.45

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Andrii Bohdanov scored, was marked 7.45, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

The dugout8 Feb 2027

Andrii Kusyi keeps the receipts

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

Squad8 Feb 2027

Leo Black 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. Leo Black has, at Feniks, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad8 Feb 2027

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.

Transfer targets8 Feb 2027

Oleksandriya tell Feniks: Andrii Storchous 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.

Match6 Feb 2027

Feniks come up short against Metalurh Zaporizhzhia

Metalurh Zaporizhzhia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout8 Feb 2027

Vitaliy Babenko faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vitaliy Babenko after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad8 Feb 2027

Anton Zadereiko 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 Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief