Marked for Leon Ayinde
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Dec 2029
20 days out for Yevhen Korokhov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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Market31 Dec 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Podillia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
Podillia counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Podillia now.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Dec 2029
Nyva left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Ruslan Chernenko ran the middle of the pitch — 7.41
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.41, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 121% of everything Podillia earn
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ihor Kryvtsov
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Yevhen Korokhov out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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.
Match22 Dec 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
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The dugout24 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guram Qazaishvili, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
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 0‑2 Vasyl Sobol left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
Oleh Lunyov is still being punished for one mistake
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Yevhen Korokhov out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces17 Dec 2029
Anger at Podillia 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 Dec 2029
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Yevhenii Profatylo decided nobody was going anywhere. UCSA had no time left to answer.
Match15 Dec 2029
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market17 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yevhenii Profatylo. 2‑1 against UCSA, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Dec 2029
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2029
62 days out for Yevhen Korokhov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces19 Nov 2029
Anger at Podillia 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.
Market19 Nov 2029
“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.
Match17 Nov 2029
7 matches without a win for Podillia
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Podillia are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 ratings19 Nov 2029
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.
Match17 Nov 2029
Late, late show earns Podillia a point
Minute 89, against Chernihiv, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Guram Qazaishvili 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.
Match17 Nov 2029
2‑2, 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
Squad12 Nov 2029
A fracture rules Yevhen Korokhov out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Nov 2029
Podillia cannot find the net
6 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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.
Match10 Nov 2029
0‑2 to Ahrobiznes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
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Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Natan Sobiech, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
Podillia cannot find the net
3 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.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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The dugout29 Oct 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Podillia told Roman Bodnia something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
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 Yevhenii Profatylo is on it.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Half-satisfied: Vasyl Sobol on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Match27 Oct 2029
Point won or two lost for Podillia?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Poltava? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces22 Oct 2029
The mood at Podillia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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 Podillia know it.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Norenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Oct 2029
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Vladyslav Kocherhin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Oct 2029
200 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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.21 on the card, and the Podillia support went home talking about one name.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
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 Yehor Prokopenko is on it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“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 dugout22 Oct 2029
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vasyl Sobol after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
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The dugout8 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yehor Prokopenko commits to Podillia for another 4 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
The crowd has taken to Oleh Lunyov
At 19 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.
Match6 Oct 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleksandr Snizhko. 2‑0 against Probiy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Oct 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Sep 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Sep 2029
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 targets17 Sep 2029
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 dugout17 Sep 2029
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The dugout17 Sep 2029
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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
Podillia can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Vasyl Sobol: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad17 Sep 2029
The formation has left Luis Sánchez behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Podillia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Age has not caught Denis Norenkov yet — 7.80
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.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
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Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Podillia close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 13 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Denis Norenkov 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 targets10 Sep 2029
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.
Match8 Sep 2029
Late, late show earns Podillia a point
Minute 92, against Livyi Bereh, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Wages eat 93% of everything Podillia earn
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.
Match8 Sep 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout20 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Leon Ayinde 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Podillia asked and Livyi Bereh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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.
Match18 Aug 2029
1‑2 to Prykarpattia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
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The dugout20 Aug 2029
“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 dugout20 Aug 2029
“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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
A loan move for Pavlo Lunyov is in the works
Podillia have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Oksenenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Podillia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
No sign of nerves from Oleh Lunyov at 18 — 7.87
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oleh Lunyov did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The Podillia board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Davronbek Azizov 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oleksandr Snizhko and Podillia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Jul 2029
Supporters organise against the Podillia board
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.
Market30 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mykyta Velihorskyi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Boardroom30 Jul 2029
Graduation day at Podillia
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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
At 31 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Podillia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match28 Jul 2029
The goals have deserted Podillia
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Podillia can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Podillia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Podillia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad23 Jul 2029
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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Jul 2029
At 33 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
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 dugout23 Jul 2029
“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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Podillia have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Jul 2029
Anger at Podillia 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Jul 2029
At 21 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ruslan Chernenko commits to Podillia for another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Denis Norenkov 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
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 dugout2 Jul 2029
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Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Shakhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout18 Jun 2029
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The dugout18 Jun 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Podillia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
“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.
Market18 Jun 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Podillia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
The window opens at Podillia
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A season on the outside for Natan Sobiech
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Podillia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Jun 2029
Anger at Podillia 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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 dugout4 Jun 2029
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The dugout4 Jun 2029
“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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Podillia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
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
Crisis
Match14 May 2029
Every point is an argument now for Podillia
Position 14 and 26 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maciej Krzempek, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2029
“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.
Squad14 May 2029
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 May 2029
Supporters organise against the Podillia board
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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Vasyl Sobol has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Podillia can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 May 2029
“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 Podillia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Norenkov and Podillia agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Norenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 May 2029
“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 dugout7 May 2029
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 dugout7 May 2029
Maciej Krzempek without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Maciej Krzempek was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad23 Apr 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Apr 2029
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanislav Oksenenko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
Wages eat 94% of everything Podillia earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Apr 2029
Every point is an argument now for Podillia
Position 14 and 26 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Denis Norenkov 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mykyta Velihorskyi and Podillia agree another 4 years.
Market16 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Podillia, another week without a signature from Stanislav Oksenenko.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Mar 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Mar 2029
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Denis Norenkov 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.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
104% of the income goes out in wages at Podillia
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 dugout26 Mar 2029
“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 dugout26 Mar 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 Podillia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 dugout12 Mar 2029
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 dugout12 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Podillia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Mar 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Bohdan Kushnirenko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Mar 2029
“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 Podillia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Pressure builds in the Podillia boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The numbers do not look good at Podillia
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.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
Podillia asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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 dugout5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davronbek Azizov, and the manager let it.
Market5 Mar 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Podillia, another week without a signature from Stanislav Oksenenko.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rostyslav Revakovych is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Feb 2029
Podillia are in real trouble now
Position 14, 26 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.
Match19 Feb 2029
The season ends: position 14 for Podillia
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 26 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
Everything agreed with Vorskla, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Metalist keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 targets19 Feb 2029
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.
Match17 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Ihor Bohomolov 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
Uneasy
Market5 Feb 2029
“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 Podillia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Podillia counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Podillia now.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Rostyslav Revakovych, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Podillia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match3 Feb 2029
The drought breaks for Podillia
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Prykarpattia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Podillia have done the hard part with Dynamo Kyiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inhulets have kept their man, and Podillia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match27 Jan 2029
Podillia cannot find the net
10 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.
Match27 Jan 2029
0‑3 to Metalist, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
The deal with Shakhtar 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanislav Oksenenko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Jan 2029
9 matches without a win for Podillia
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Podillia are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Jan 2029
Podillia sink to position 14
23 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match20 Jan 2029
9 matches without a goal for Podillia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Norenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Jan 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stanislav Oksenenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
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
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleksandr Snizhko
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Podillia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 Jan 2029
The wait goes on for Podillia
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.
Match6 Jan 2029
The goals have deserted Podillia
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Podillia can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleksandr Snizhko commits to Podillia for another 2 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Podillia counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Podillia now.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleksandr Snizhko
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Podillia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Dec 2028
Podillia cannot find the net
6 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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Jan 2029
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Norenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Livyi Bereh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Jan 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“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
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Boardroom
94% of the income goes out in wages at Podillia
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The dugout
Bohdan Kushnirenko knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Dec 2028
Oleksandr Snizhko damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
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.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match16 Dec 2028
Podillia cannot find the net
4 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.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vasyl Sobol after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“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.
Match16 Dec 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Bukovyna will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Podillia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
Podillia counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Podillia now.
Match9 Dec 2028
Podillia cannot find the net
3 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Denis Norenkov 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Leon Ayinde
“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.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Ruslan Chernenko ran the middle of the pitch — 7.30
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.30, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
7.46, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Podillia had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Podillia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Nov 2028
Nowhere to hide for Podillia
0‑5 against Inhulets, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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 Nov 2028
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 ratings27 Nov 2028
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Podillia deserved better, and so did he.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Shkinder, and the manager let it.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Nov 2028
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Podillia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Ihor Kryvtsov: 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.” Podillia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Denis Norenkov 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 terraces20 Nov 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yevhenii Profatylo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match18 Nov 2028
Three points for Podillia, 1‑0 the final word against Ahrobiznes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vasyl Sobol on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Pavlo Savchuk
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
Oleksandr Snizhko damages knee ligaments — 87 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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 ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Norenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Leon Ayinde 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Podillia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market30 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yehor Prokopenko signs something — a contract at Podillia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Oct 2028
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Podillia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match21 Oct 2028
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 terraces23 Oct 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match21 Oct 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leon Ayinde. 1‑0 against Prykarpattia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“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 dugout23 Oct 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Vasyl Sobol could afford to be generous.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Oct 2028
The wait goes on for Podillia
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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Oct 2028
Podillia cannot find the net
4 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
Belts tighten at Podillia
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
0‑1 to Metalist, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Oct 2028
Nowhere to hide for Podillia
0‑3 against Obolon, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad9 Oct 2028
27 days out for Oleh Strotskyi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Oct 2028
The wait goes on for Podillia
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.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denis Norenkov and Podillia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Leon Ayinde 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
3 matches without a goal for Podillia
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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Denis Norenkov 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 dugout9 Oct 2028
Roman Bodnia 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
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Boardroom
Inquest at Podillia
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Boardroom
Wages eat 101% of everything Podillia earn
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Sep 2028
48 days out for Oleh Strotskyi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The numbers do not look good at Podillia
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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Leon Ayinde scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Livyi Bereh, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Denis Norenkov 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Stanislav Sotnichuk 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 ratings18 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Sep 2028
A fracture rules Oleh Strotskyi out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Podillia close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 8 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Podillia cannot find the net
3 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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Podillia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match9 Sep 2028
UCSA left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
Davronbek Azizov gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 88% of the Podillia income
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Aug 2028
Polissia ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad4 Sep 2028
62 days out for Oleh Strotskyi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
Podillia are taken apart by Polissia — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Podillia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 targets4 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Oleh Strotskyi out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Podillia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Three points for Podillia, 2‑1 the final word against Probiy in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2028
At last: Podillia win one
18 matches without a win, and then this, against Chernihiv. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Oleh Strotskyi out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Aug 2028
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Yevhenii Profatylo decided nobody was going anywhere. Chernihiv had no time left to answer.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Podillia counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Podillia now.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Leon Ayinde is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
At 32 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Podillia 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2028
18 matches without a win for Podillia
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Podillia are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Oleh Strotskyi out for 83 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Aug 2028
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.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match12 Aug 2028
The run is over for Podillia
8 matches without defeat, and then Inhulets. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
3 matches without a goal for Podillia
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Podillia
17 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
90 days out for Oleh Strotskyi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match5 Aug 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Podillia did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Aug 2028
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leon Ayinde commits to Podillia for another 4 years.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feniks have kept their man, and Podillia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Dynamo Kyiv 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Oleh Strotskyi out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Podillia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yevhenii Profatylo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The numbers do not look good at Podillia
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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Podillia asked and UCSA said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Podillia
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Volodymyr Rudiuk has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Podillia asked and Inhulets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Dynamo Kyiv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan move for Ihor Kulach is in the works
Podillia have made the call to Dynamo Kyiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
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
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 Jul 2028
Callum Jones 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 Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Podillia have done the hard part with Shakhtar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 targets3 Jul 2028
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 dugout3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Volodymyr Rudiuk, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Podillia have made the call to Dynamo Kyiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Podillia sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Podillia
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Podillia is running low.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Rukh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Podillia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The numbers do not look good at Podillia
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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Podillia asked and Metalist said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Denis Norenkov 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 dugout26 Jun 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Podillia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Jun 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Stanislav Sotnichuk is living that version at Podillia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Leon Ayinde 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podillia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Norenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Jun 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vladyslav Malynovskyi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market5 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vasyl Sydorchuk is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market5 Jun 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pavlo Popov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market5 Jun 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mykola Mykhailychenko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladyslav Kocherhin and Podillia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Serhii Zaiets 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 Serhii Zaiets trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Podillia boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 May 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Leon Ayinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Podillia counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Podillia now.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Podillia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Kushnirenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 May 2028
The formation has left Zack Littler behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Podillia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanislav Oksenenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 May 2028
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 Yevhenii Profatylo is on it.
Market29 May 2028
Podillia shop where it costs nothing
Zack Littler signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Podillia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 May 2028
Leon Ayinde 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Norenkov 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 dugout15 May 2028
Tutti has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Podillia 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 dugout15 May 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Leon Ayinde has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Apr 2028
“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 dugout24 Apr 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Podillia
Yaroslav Kvasov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Korokhov 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.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Wages eat 95% of everything Podillia earn
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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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 Volodymyr Rudiuk is on it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Serhii Zaiets 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 Podillia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yehor Prokopenko signs something — a contract at Podillia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Podillia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Podillia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Leon Ayinde 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 Apr 2028
Bohdan Kushnirenko 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kostiantyn Matvienko, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Serhii Zaiets 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 Podillia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
Yaroslav Kvasov damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Pressure builds in the Podillia boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Podillia
Yaroslav Kvasov 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Belts tighten at Podillia
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Yevhen Korokhov 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“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 dugout3 Apr 2028
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 Yevhenii Profatylo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Podillia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Yaroslav Kvasov 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Denis Norenkov 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Serhii Zaiets has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Podillia.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bohdan Kushnirenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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.