Marked for Tom Senior
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Up they go: Inhulets promoted
Confirmed, mathematical, and a town awake all night. Whatever else the season contained, it finishes a division higher than it started.
Market4 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Illia Hadzhuk has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Inhulets
Vitalii Dubilei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Nazar Prykhodko 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
Illia Hadzhuk is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Inhulets has been clear about where Illia Hadzhuk stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Inhulets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jun 2029
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout4 Jun 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 Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 May 2029
Inhulets refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market14 May 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
This is not rotation. Oleksandr Yevtushenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise.
Squad14 May 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazar Prykhodko 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 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.
Market14 May 2029
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Inhulets money.
Market14 May 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Endris Scaramelli.
Market14 May 2029
Inhulets have made Stanislav Ursolov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market23 Apr 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.
Squad23 Apr 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Nazar Prykhodko 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
Nazar Prykhodko asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market23 Apr 2029
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Inhulets could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market24 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Jul 2028
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Nazar Prykhodko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maksym Skorokhod 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
$170.0K on the table at Oleksandriya. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tom Senior arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tom Senior has, at Inhulets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.