Marked for Valentyn Stepanenko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Mar 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.
Market31 Mar 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metalist they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Alex Bannon 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Nikita Postnikov 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. Nikita Postnikov has, at Metalist, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bohinen 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 dugout31 Mar 2036
Mykola Shakhov 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 Metalist, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Mar 2036
24 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad3 Mar 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleksandr Bondar
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metalist lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Mar 2036
First, on 58 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Match1 Mar 2036
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Metalist scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market3 Mar 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Metalist people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market3 Mar 2036
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Vladislav Rybak gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vladislav Rybak has just signed for Metalist, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
Viktor Matvienko: 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.” Metalist have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Mar 2036
A season average of 7.34 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Feb 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleksandr Bondar
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Metalist lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Feb 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Metalist have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Feb 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 Metalist can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom25 Feb 2036
Metalist close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match23 Feb 2036
After 9 games, Metalist finally taste it again
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Epicentr; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2036
The paperwork begins on Alex Bannon
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Metalist have done the hard part with Dynamo Kyiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words exchanged at Metalist
Yevhen Usenko 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 targets25 Feb 2036
Metalist asked and Metalist said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Feb 2036
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 May 2035
Metalist refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Boardroom7 May 2035
The owner puts $71.1K into Metalist
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.
Squad7 May 2035
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksiy Karavayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 May 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentyn Stepanenko and Metalist agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market7 May 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.
The dugout7 May 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.
Market7 May 2035
Metalist have let the market know Oleksiy Karavayev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad7 May 2035
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Metalist will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout7 May 2035
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.