Marked for Manuel Miranda
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jul 2031
“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 Jul 2031
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.
Market28 Jul 2031
Only the photograph left for Manuel Miranda
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Manuel Miranda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernomorets have done the hard part with CSKA Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Jul 2031
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krasian Kolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Chernomorets asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match26 Jul 2031
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jun 2031
Kirill Morozov damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Market30 Jun 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chernomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Jun 2031
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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spartak Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Manuel Miranda 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.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Jun 2031
Krasian Kolev 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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Jovan Trač 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Apr 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Morozov
89 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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Ilja Zhigulev 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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emiljano Mihana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emiljano Mihana, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Apr 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chernomorets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom21 Apr 2031
Wages eat 96% 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.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
Ilja Zhigulev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chernomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Apr 2031
The name of Anton Antonov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chernomorets say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Morozov
96 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.
Market14 Apr 2031
“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.
Market14 Apr 2031
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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Ilja Zhigulev 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 Apr 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krasian Kolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch14 Apr 2031
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Chernomorets, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Market14 Apr 2031
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chernomorets has been clear about where Michael McSorley stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
Nestor Loik has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Chernomorets 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.
Market14 Apr 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chernomorets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Feb 2031
A season average of 7.49 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market17 Feb 2031
The offer from Neftekhimik for Alexandr Khubulov 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.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernomorets have done the hard part with Sevastopol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match15 Feb 2031
No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 Feb 2031
2‑3 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochi have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Tom Edwards in a row with a teammate
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 ratings17 Feb 2031
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Emiljano Mihana 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.
In brief
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Squad
Manuel Miranda wants to go home
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Daniil Lukin is in the works
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Dec 2030
“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.
Squad16 Dec 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Dec 2030
Yenisey left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emiljano Mihana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Dec 2030
“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.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
“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.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
The manager makes an example of Ivan Laptev
“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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A Chernomorets teenager takes the young player award
Yuri Pushkin is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2030
4 matches without a win for Chernomorets
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Kirill Danilov 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.
Match12 Oct 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaur Tarba, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Emiljano Mihana 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
“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.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernomorets told Kirill Danilov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market14 Oct 2030
“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
Steady
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Match17 Aug 2030
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Anton Antonov will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Chernomorets escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Market19 Aug 2030
The offer from Chaika for Alexandr Khubulov 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.
Market19 Aug 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chernomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Aug 2030
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sevastopol had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The terraces19 Aug 2030
Supporters turn on the $710.0K sale of Vladimir Marukhin
He is going to Akhmat Grozny, the club has $710.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
“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.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernomorets have done the hard part with Spartak Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match17 Aug 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.