Marked for Maksym Titov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Aug 2036
Nowhere to hide for Bukovyna
0‑4 against UCSA, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market4 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Bukovyna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Aug 2036
Bukovyna say no — this time
The offer from Kolos for Maciej Grosicki was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match2 Aug 2036
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Boardroom4 Aug 2036
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kolos is saying, and nobody at Bukovyna is enjoying the guessing.
Squad4 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 Bukovyna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Aug 2036
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
Metalist wanted more than $9.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom28 Jul 2036
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Boardroom28 Jul 2036
A stranger takes charge at Bukovyna
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Market28 Jul 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bukovyna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout28 Jul 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom28 Jul 2036
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Match26 Jul 2036
Still nobody has beaten Bukovyna
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market28 Jul 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 Bukovyna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bukovyna have done the hard part with Zorya, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2036
Bukovyna had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Polissia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Apr 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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
A falling-out at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Nazarii Desiatnyk 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 dugout28 Apr 2036
The manager makes an example of Maksym Titov
“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 dugout28 Apr 2036
Kyrylo Biliaiev 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.
Market28 Apr 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.
Market28 Apr 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kyrylo Biliaiev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad28 Apr 2036
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bukovyna will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Mar 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 Bukovyna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A falling-out at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Bukovyna
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nazarii Desiatnyk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Maciej Grosicki
“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.
Market31 Mar 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kyrylo Biliaiev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Feb 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bukovyna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market4 Feb 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 Bukovyna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
Bukovyna and Vorskla have settled on $4.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A falling-out at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
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.
Market4 Feb 2036
Add another name to the list: Probiy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artem Buialskyi. The answer from Bukovyna has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A row about effort at Bukovyna
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicol Píriz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A month that belonged to Oleh Bezus
The young player of the month award goes to a 16-year-old at Bukovyna who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Maksym Titov
“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
Uneasy
Market21 Jan 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bukovyna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Ivan Andreiko 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.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Bukovyna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazarii Desiatnyk 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 dugout21 Jan 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladyslav Artemchuk's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Bukovyna are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout21 Jan 2036
The team sheet said everything about Maksym Titov
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Maksym Titov.
Match19 Jan 2036
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Jan 2036
The manager makes an example of Anton Bondar
“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 dugout21 Jan 2036
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bukovyna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko 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 2035
Aleksi Pohjanpalo 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. Aleksi Pohjanpalo has, at Bukovyna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad17 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Bukovyna
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykyta Khodakivskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Nobody could get near Oleh Bezus
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Dec 2035
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Dec 2035
“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 Bukovyna know it.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Titov, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Oct 2035
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bukovyna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bukovyna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Oct 2035
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words at Bukovyna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykyta Khodakivskyi 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.
Match20 Oct 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Oct 2035
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
“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 dugout22 Oct 2035
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 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market22 Oct 2035
“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
Upbeat
Market17 Sep 2035
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Artem Buialskyi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market17 Sep 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.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2035
The deal with Kolos died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market17 Sep 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleksandr Kharechko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bukovyna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Sep 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 Bukovyna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2035
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.
Match15 Sep 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Volskyi. 2‑0 against Probiy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maciej Grosicki, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kostiantyn Shakhov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bukovyna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market6 Aug 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
No thanks: Nicola Grandu rejects the move
Bukovyna had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Polissia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Words exchanged at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko 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.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
The offer went to Probiy this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
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.
Market6 Aug 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valentyn Yaremchuk is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Aug 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mykola Marlos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Jul 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bukovyna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Bukovyna 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
A falling-out at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Words at Bukovyna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazarii Desiatnyk 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Bukovyna have made the call to Karpaty. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
A loan move for Ihor Kulach is in the works
Bukovyna have made the call to Vorskla. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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 dugout16 Jul 2035
The manager makes an example of Ivan Sobol
“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
Uneasy
Market28 May 2035
Ole Sørdal 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 Bukovyna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 May 2035
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Bukovyna will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad28 May 2035
A row about effort at Bukovyna
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykyta Khodakivskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 May 2035
A falling-out at Bukovyna
Mykhailo Sudakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 May 2035
Wages eat 104% of everything Bukovyna 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 dugout28 May 2035
The manager makes an example of Oleh Bezus
“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
Uneasy
Squad21 May 2035
Mykola Kyrychok 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.
Squad21 May 2035
Ivan Andreiko 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 dugout21 May 2035
Maksym Titov 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 Maksym Titov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 May 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mykyta Khodakivskyi signs something — a contract at Bukovyna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market21 May 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bukovyna, another week without a signature from Ivan Sobol.
Market21 May 2035
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Bukovyna money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Apr 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 Bukovyna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bukovyna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko 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 2035
Words at Bukovyna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykyta Khodakivskyi 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 dugout16 Apr 2035
Maksym Titov 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.
Market16 Apr 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bukovyna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bukovyna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
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 Kostiantyn Shakhov has written the date down.
Market16 Apr 2035
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Bukovyna money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniil Volskyi and Bukovyna agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words at Bukovyna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Andreiko 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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Bukovyna
Mykhailo Sudakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Illia Konovalov, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Bukovyna will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market9 Apr 2035
Bukovyna bring in an old head
Maicol Píriz is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Apr 2035
Ole Sørdal 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 Bukovyna can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Paul Shaw: 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.” Bukovyna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Volskyi commits to Bukovyna for another 3 years.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Bukovyna
Mykola Kyrychok 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 Apr 2035
Words at Bukovyna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Andreiko 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 Apr 2035
116% of the income goes out in wages at Bukovyna
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 dugout2 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kyrylo Sudakov, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Maksym Titov 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 Maksym Titov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Apr 2035
“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
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Jan 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Words exchanged at Bukovyna
Ivan Andreiko 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 2035
Mykyta Khodakivskyi 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.
Match20 Jan 2035
Feniks made Bukovyna work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Illia Konovalov, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
The team sheet said everything about Maksym Titov
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Maksym Titov.
Player ratings22 Jan 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Dec 2034
“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 Dec 2034
A row about effort at Bukovyna
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Andreiko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Dec 2034
A falling-out at Bukovyna
Kyrylo Biliaiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Dec 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
Maksym Titov 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
Wages swallow 101% of the Bukovyna income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Bukovyna prefer.
Market4 Dec 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bukovyna, another week without a signature from Daniil Volskyi.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Oct 2034
Bohdan Biloshevskyi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Oct 2034
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words at Victoriia Sumy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Titov 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 dugout23 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Albert Shtykharenko, and the manager let it.
Market23 Oct 2034
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jasper Verhofstede has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Victoriia Sumy.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
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 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladyslav Khameliuk's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad23 Oct 2034
5 new faces, and Victoriia Sumy are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings23 Oct 2034
A mark of 3.92 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Victoriia Sumy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoriia Sumy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Vladyslav Khameliuk 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 Oct 2034
Words at Victoriia Sumy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Biloshevskyi 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.
Squad16 Oct 2034
“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; Victoriia Sumy are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom16 Oct 2034
The borrowing at Victoriia Sumy reaches $13.3M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $13.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
“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.
Market16 Oct 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Victoriia Sumy, another week without a signature from Maksym Titov.
Market16 Oct 2034
Kamal Kazımov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Victoriia Sumy has been clear about where Kamal Kazımov stands, which is more than many ever get.