Marked for Yan Shevchenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yan Shevchenko
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Poltava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Danylo Serbinov: 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.” Poltava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The deal with Raków Częstochowa 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mykola Buzhyn 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Plakhtyr 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 targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Bratislava have kept their man, and Poltava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Everything rides on Kudrivka
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The dugout
No hiding place for Illia Ukhan
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Oliver Velich's mistake
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yan Shevchenko
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Poltava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Polissia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match15 Feb 2027
Poltava sink to position 14
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Poltava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Poltava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Oleksandr Vivdych had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Poltava
5 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The chase for Kristian Bilovar ended with $850.0K changing hands and Dynamo Kyiv out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Denys Smetana did the work nobody counts — 7.05
14 combined actions and 7.05. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
Poltava spend $850.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $850.0K for Kristian Bilovar, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dmytro Plakhtyr 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.