Marked for Dato Chertkoev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jun 2029
The offer from Nafta 1903 for Roman Horný 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Daniil Arsentjev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Chernomorets have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Zaur Tarba 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Albert Ratnikov and Chernomorets agree another 4 years.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
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 dugout11 Jun 2029
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 May 2029
Zaurbek Pliev breaks a bone — 103 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 May 2029
Dmitry Yakovlev 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Yanchev 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.
Market14 May 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chernomorets, another week without a signature from Dmitry Kamenschikov.
The dugout14 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Dato Chertkoev'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 dugout14 May 2029
Ilja Zhigulev 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.
Market14 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Yakovlev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 May 2029
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 Stefanos Zafeiris is on it.
Squad14 May 2029
Dmitry Yakovlev has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
A fracture rules Zaurbek Pliev out for 131 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Apr 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Igor Konovalov 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zaur Tarba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Apr 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 Chernomorets know it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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 dugout16 Apr 2029
Dmitry Yakovlev 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Lod, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Timur Alikberov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Mar 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Mar 2029
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.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Dmitry Kumsarov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Chernomorets have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zaur Tarba 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.
Match17 Mar 2029
A 2‑1 win over Chelyabinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces19 Mar 2029
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Ilja Zhigulev
“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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Dmitry Kamenschikov will call it something else in private.
In brief
-
Squad
Antón Álvarez signs a new deal
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Dato Chertkoev is still being punished for one mistake
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Jan 2029
9 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Zaur Tarba has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chernomorets is pretending otherwise.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zaur Tarba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Yakovlev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Marked 7.51 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Chernomorets had the best player on the pitch.
Match13 Jan 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Dec 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Zaur Tarba has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chernomorets is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
The game went through Zaur Tarba — 6.46
Marked 6.46 on 17 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match16 Dec 2028
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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Alexandr Frantsuzov 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 dugout18 Dec 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Emil Yanchev 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.
Match16 Dec 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dato Chertkoev'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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zaur Tarba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernomorets told Daniil Gurchenko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dato Chertkoev'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 dugout20 Nov 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 Igor Konovalov is on it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chernomorets will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Zaur Tarba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Oct 2028
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Vladislav Kravtsov decided nobody was going anywhere. Leningradets had no time left to answer.
Market23 Oct 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Oliver Eliassen Aske has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chernomorets is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Frantsuzov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces23 Oct 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout23 Oct 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
A 1‑0 win over Leningradets, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 7.57. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2028
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Igor Konovalov will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Chernomorets escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Market25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Igor Konovalov pops up at the right end — 7.84
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Maxim Matyusha: 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.” Chernomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Eliassen Aske will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match23 Sep 2028
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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Oliver Eliassen Aske has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chernomorets is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Dec 2027
Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad20 Dec 2027
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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Oliver Eliassen Aske has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chernomorets is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Ruslan Bart 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 terraces20 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ruslan Bart has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match18 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Magomed Abakarov. 2‑0 against Rotor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Marked 7.91 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Chernomorets had the best player on the pitch.