Marked for Mikhail Kozin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces25 May 2037
Anger at Chernomorets 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.
Squad25 May 2037
Revin Domi breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match25 May 2037
Every point is an argument now for Chernomorets
Position 16 and 33 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.
Market25 May 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 May 2037
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chernomorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad25 May 2037
Ibrahima Tamba 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces27 Apr 2037
Anger at Chernomorets 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.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Revin Domi breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 Apr 2037
Every point is an argument now for Chernomorets
Position 16 and 33 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.
Market27 Apr 2037
Mikhail Kozin 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Apr 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Mar 2037
Anger at Chernomorets 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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Revin Domi breaks a bone — 91 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Mar 2037
Every point is an argument now for Chernomorets
Position 16 and 33 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.
Market30 Mar 2037
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Mar 2037
Anger at Chernomorets 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.
Match2 Mar 2037
Position 16, 32 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.
Match28 Feb 2037
Chernomorets throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Chelyabinsk the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chernomorets will enjoy reviewing.
Match28 Feb 2037
Chernomorets are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market2 Mar 2037
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Tkachev 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.
Boardroom2 Mar 2037
The owner puts $538.8K into Chernomorets
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Player ratings2 Mar 2037
Ninety minutes of Thiago Domínguez at his very best
Marked 8.73. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chernomorets.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Feb 2037
The mood at Chernomorets 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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2037
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom2 Feb 2037
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market2 Feb 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Feb 2037
388 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Player ratings2 Feb 2037
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom2 Feb 2037
An order from above at Chernomorets: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Feb 2037
August Erlingmark 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.
Match31 Jan 2037
Chernomorets are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Dec 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Dec 2036
1‑4 to Akron, 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.
Market15 Dec 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Dec 2036
Only the photograph left for Yuriy Borodin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuriy Borodin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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.
Boardroom15 Dec 2036
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad15 Dec 2036
“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.
Boardroom15 Dec 2036
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
Uneasy
The terraces8 Dec 2036
The mood at Chernomorets 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.
Squad8 Dec 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Dec 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
Up for the corner, and August Erlingmark delivers — 7.53
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. August Erlingmark scored, was marked 7.53, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad8 Dec 2036
August Erlingmark 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.
Match6 Dec 2036
August Erlingmark scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Rotor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom8 Dec 2036
$586.2K of the owner's money at Chernomorets
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Dec 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgy Natabashvili, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Dec 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom1 Dec 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chernomorets
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match29 Nov 2036
Fakel will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chernomorets were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market1 Dec 2036
“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.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
Hatem Grine was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Nov 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Nov 2036
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings17 Nov 2036
Age has not caught José Caicedo yet — 8.40
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market17 Nov 2036
Yuriy Borodin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Nov 2036
“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 Chernomorets know it.
Squad17 Nov 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Mikhail Kozin 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 ratings17 Nov 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 Nov 2036
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Oct 2036
12 matches without a win for Chernomorets
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Oct 2036
Paul Ombolo had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Rodina were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
A brace, and Paul Ombolo takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Paul Ombolo provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market20 Oct 2036
Mikhail Kozin 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Oct 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chernomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Oct 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Tkachev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Sep 2036
8 matches without a win for Chernomorets
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.
Market22 Sep 2036
“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 Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Sep 2036
Only the photograph left for Yuriy Borodin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuriy Borodin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Sep 2036
“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 Chernomorets know it.
Squad22 Sep 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Sep 2036
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Chernomorets now know that too.
Squad22 Sep 2036
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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 ratings22 Sep 2036
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.
Match20 Sep 2036
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
Squad25 Aug 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Shalonikov
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Aug 2036
Pobeda go through and Chernomorets go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings25 Aug 2036
A debut Fernando Braga will not forget — 8.41
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.41 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Market25 Aug 2036
Mikhail Kozin 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Aug 2036
A first appearance Yuriy Borodin will want to forget — 5.36
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.36, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Match23 Aug 2036
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market25 Aug 2036
Only the photograph left for Yuriy Borodin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuriy Borodin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Aug 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Aug 2036
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gennady Chesnokov is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Shalonikov
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Jul 2036
No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Jul 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gennady Chesnokov is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Hatem Grine 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 ratings28 Jul 2036
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Jul 2036
A performance of 8.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match26 Jul 2036
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings28 Jul 2036
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jul 2036
Position 17, 22 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.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Jul 2036
Mikhail Kozin 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jul 2036
August Erlingmark 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.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hatem Grine 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
$600.6K of the owner's money at Chernomorets
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market7 Jul 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jun 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Jun 2036
“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 Jun 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jun 2036
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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.
Squad30 Jun 2036
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
Squad2 Jun 2036
A fracture rules Facundo Castet out for 70 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Jun 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Jun 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timofey Tkachev commits to Chernomorets for another 4 years.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Daniil Antsiperov 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.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Zikrula Magomedov 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
$593.5K of the owner's money at Chernomorets
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Apr 2036
Mikhail Kozin 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Apr 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zikrula Magomedov and Chernomorets agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Juan Cruz Santander 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.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Timofey Tkachev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
$637.7K of the owner's money at Chernomorets
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
Wages eat 127% of everything Chernomorets 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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market7 Apr 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Jan 2036
Position 17, 20 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.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Maxim Shalonikov: 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.” Chernomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Jan 2036
Volga made Chernomorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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 ratings21 Jan 2036
Daniil Antsiperov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad21 Jan 2036
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chernomorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match19 Jan 2036
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mikhail Kozin had Chernomorets level again within 1 minutes, and Volga never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jan 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chernomorets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match12 Jan 2036
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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Juan Cruz Santander 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Timofey Tkachev 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 ratings14 Jan 2036
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Mikhail Kozin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Boardroom14 Jan 2036
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Dec 2035
Nicolò Gigli 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Match15 Dec 2035
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad17 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Zikrula Magomedov 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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Cruz Santander, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Dec 2035
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Loan watch17 Dec 2035
“I did not go to Ryazan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chernomorets and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Match15 Dec 2035
A 2‑2 draw with Rodina leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Dec 2035
Anger at Chernomorets 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.
Market10 Dec 2035
“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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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.
Match8 Dec 2035
0‑2 to Rotor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Dec 2035
“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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
Wages eat 120% of everything Chernomorets 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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
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
Match24 Nov 2035
2‑5 against Sokol, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match26 Nov 2035
Position 16, 13 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.
Market26 Nov 2035
“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 Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Nov 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Nov 2035
Paul Ombolo among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Paul Ombolo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chernomorets and Sokol.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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 ratings26 Nov 2035
Marked 8.95 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad26 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgy Natabashvili, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Ninety minutes of Paul Ombolo at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chernomorets.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.03, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market19 Nov 2035
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
Evgeny Ragulkin, 36, rolls back the years — 8.33
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.33 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Juan Cruz Santander 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.
Match17 Nov 2035
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chernomorets and Neftekhimik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Zikrula Magomedov 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 ratings19 Nov 2035
Mikhail Kozin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.84. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad19 Nov 2035
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chernomorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces15 Oct 2035
Anger at Chernomorets 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.
Market15 Oct 2035
“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 Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match13 Oct 2035
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad15 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zikrula Magomedov 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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
13 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
Wages eat 148% of everything Chernomorets 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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2035
Marked 8.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Revin Domi 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.