Marked for Dmytro Panchenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces15 Oct 2029
Supporters organise against the Probiy 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Markus Moltubakk and Probiy agree another 5 years.
The dugout15 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2029
The Probiy debt reaches $11.6M
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.
Market15 Oct 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Probiy are still strangers to each other
7 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 dugout15 Oct 2029
João Vitor 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.
Looking ahead15 Oct 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dmytro Panchenko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Probiy needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market15 Oct 2029
Probiy have let the market know Yevhen Morozko can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Sep 2029
10 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Match1 Oct 2029
Probiy are in real trouble now
Position 16, 2 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
There were 6 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Probiy
João Vitor 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.
Match29 Sep 2029
The goals have deserted Probiy
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Probiy can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad1 Oct 2029
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
No signings allowed at Probiy
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.
The dugout1 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitaliy Tkachuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2029
9 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Sep 2029
0‑3 to Poltava, 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.
Squad24 Sep 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Probiy
João Vitor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Volodymyr Ivanychuk, and the manager let it.
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
Doors closed at Probiy
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 dugout24 Sep 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Taras Shevchenko after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Taras Shevchuk and Probiy agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Looking ahead24 Sep 2029
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia next, and one man in the Probiy dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Sep 2029
10 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.
Match29 Aug 2029
Probiy out of the cup
Shakhtar ended it 0‑7. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market3 Sep 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match1 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Probiy
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 terraces3 Sep 2029
Probiy are taken apart by Shakhtar — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-7. 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.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
The deal with Bukovyna 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.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Probiy had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
This is not rotation. Ralph van Hunnik has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Match29 Aug 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Probiy and Shakhtar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Aug 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Aug 2029
7 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.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
This is not rotation. Volodymyr Adamiuk has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Everything agreed with LNZ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Probiy asked and Kryvbas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match11 Aug 2029
Victoriia Sumy left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ralph van Hunnik 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 dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joel Bratland Hakkebo, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
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 Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Jul 2029
Noa Oftedal 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Probiy may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Jul 2029
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.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
No thanks: Hlieb Volvach rejects the move
Probiy had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Oleksandriya, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Noa Oftedal has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom30 Jul 2029
Graduation day at Probiy
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.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Probiy asked and Feniks said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 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 Probiy know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 May 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Taras Shevchenko has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Probiy can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout7 May 2029
This is not rotation. Viktor Tryhub has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Volodymyr Adamiuk commits to Probiy for another 2 years.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The owner puts $28.7K into Probiy
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.
The dugout7 May 2029
Maksym Kovalenko loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Maksym Kovalenko's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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.
Market7 May 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
A squad written off a fortnight ago has closed ranks. Whatever was said behind that door, it has held so far.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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 targets24 Jul 2028
Inhulets offered $17.0K; Livyi Bereh said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market24 Jul 2028
Add another name to the list: Feniks have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dmytro Bezkleinyi. The answer from Inhulets has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Inhulets asked and Kudrivka 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 targets24 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Ahrobiznes: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A loan move for Ajdi Dajko is in the works
Inhulets have made the call to LNZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murilo Rian 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 dugout24 Jul 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Dmytro Bezkleinyi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Inhulets 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market26 Jun 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 Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Inhulets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dynamo Kyiv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad26 Jun 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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Inhulets offered $17.0K; Livyi Bereh said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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 targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LNZ have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Inhulets have made the call to Metalist. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Danylo Tuzenko
“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
Market19 Jun 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 Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jun 2028
Inhulets say no — this time
The offer from Chornomorets for Yaroslav Karpizin 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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 dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mykhailo Khromei, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan move for Adam Yakubu is in the works
Inhulets have made the call to LNZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Obolon 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Inhulets will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Dmytro Panchenko 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
Market29 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maksym Skorokhod will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stanislav Oksenenko is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Inhulets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serhii Kyslenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 May 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
Artem Benediuk 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.
The dugout29 May 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.
Market29 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inhulets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 May 2028
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.
The dugout22 May 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
Artem Benediuk 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inhulets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Inhulets
Daniil Myronchuk 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaroslav Riazantsev, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Dmytro Panchenko 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Yevtushenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Inhulets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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 Illia Hadzhuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dmytro Panchenko'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.
The dugout27 Mar 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 Vitalii Rozhko is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Inhulets
Illia Hadzhuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Inhulets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislav Ursolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Mar 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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleh Manastyrnyi, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yehor Kniazev has his answer from Inhulets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Oleksii Slutskyi'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.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Mar 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 Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Mar 2028
Inhulets finish in position 10
39 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market13 Mar 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Inhulets
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleksandr Yevtushenko, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Match11 Mar 2028
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.