Marked for Ruslan Kotchenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Apr 2030
The knee: Denys Popov out for 26 days
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernihiv lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Apr 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Chernihiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The owner puts $451.5K into Chernihiv
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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Chernihiv
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Viacheslav Velev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Chernihiv cannot sign anybody
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.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Chernihiv are $16.1M in the red
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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
5 new faces, and Chernihiv 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.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces29 Oct 2029
Anger at Chernihiv 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.
Squad29 Oct 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.
Market29 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Chernihiv
Maksym Tatarenko 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Chernihiv
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Kjellsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Maestro wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chernihiv can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout29 Oct 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kyrylo Boyko to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
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
Squad8 Oct 2029
16 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.
Match6 Oct 2029
Nowhere to hide for Chernihiv
2‑7 against Kudrivka, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market8 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chernihiv can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chernihiv may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Maksym Tatarenko 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 Oct 2029
Andrii Novikov among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Andrii Novikov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chernihiv and Kudrivka.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
The owner puts $424.2K into Chernihiv
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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eric Kjellsson 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
Match9 Apr 2029
Every point is an argument now for Chernihiv
Position 14 and 18 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Chernihiv
Maksym Tatarenko 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Pavlo Shushko 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
He is 19, and nobody at Chernihiv signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Pavlo Shushko 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emin Abdullayev, and the manager let it.
Market9 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maksym Tatarenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market9 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chernihiv, another week without a signature from Kostiantyn Yaremchuk.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A new face in his position, and Ruslan Kotchenko suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Chernihiv have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Mar 2029
Supporters organise against the Chernihiv 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Maksym Tatarenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Chernihiv
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavlo Shushko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dzhilindo Bezhubchenko, and the manager let it.
Market19 Mar 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chernihiv know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Mar 2029
Every point is an argument now for Chernihiv
Position 14 and 18 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chernihiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A move Ruslan Kotchenko would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ruslan Kotchenko is living that version at Chernihiv, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
Chernihiv asked and Kolos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Chernihiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yehor Shalfieiev 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.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout12 Mar 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chernihiv, and both men came out saying it was fine.