“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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Up for the corner, and Ilja Zhigulev delivers — 7.77
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilja Zhigulev scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stanislav Biblyk. 2‑1 against Chelyabinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
In brief
The dugoutNikita Korets is still being punished for one mistake
7.90, 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.
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulvi Babaev 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Timur Matveev kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulvi Babaev 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.
12 combined actions and 6.51. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ulvi Babaev 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.
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
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.
Giorgos Velkov is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Nizhniy Novgorod in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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.
“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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zaurbek Pliev and Chernomorets agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulvi Babaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
115% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Stanislav Biblyk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulvi Babaev 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.
“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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chernomorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shinnik have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
In brief
The dugoutUlvi Babaev knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Khimik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chernomorets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernomorets have done the hard part with Rubin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulvi Babaev 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.
Chernomorets asked and Rubin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulvi Babaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Chernomorets is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernomorets told Vyacheslav Litvinov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
92% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Sokol next, and one man in the Chernomorets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
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.
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.
Chernomorets asked and Rubin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Timur Matveev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
7.94, 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.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ulvi Babaev 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chernomorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Ilja Zhigulev delivers — 7.45
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilja Zhigulev scored, was marked 7.45, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
2‑3 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
“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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Stanislav Biblyk 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.
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.
Chernomorets asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
“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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at Chernomorets: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 6.61 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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.
24 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.
1 for Ilja Zhigulev, marked 7.59, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
6.73, 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 name of Kirill Morozov has come up in conversations Chernomorets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Chernomorets asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
32 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.
“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.
“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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chaika keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
“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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
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.
39 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.
“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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Danil Polyakh has, at Chernomorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
102% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
Chernomorets asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Chernomorets know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zaur Tarba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
Spartak Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nzube Chukwurah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Chaika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Chernomorets asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dylan Ragolle 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 window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Chernomorets will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
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.
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.
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 Kirill Suslov is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kirill Morozov has written the date down.
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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Chernomorets had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chernomorets than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Emil Yanchev has written the date down.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chernomorets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Kirill Suslov is on it.
28 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.
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.
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.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
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.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chernomorets than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chernomorets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
51 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.
Kirill Suslov 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.
Something was said to Georgy Natabashvili and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
92% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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 Kirill Suslov is on it.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
“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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Krasian Kolev signs something — a contract at Chernomorets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kirill Morozov has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Zaur Tarba
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Chernomorets
66 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.
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Sokol made Chernomorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Daniil Martovoy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Timur Matveev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kirill Suslov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chernomorets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chernomorets would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chernomorets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
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.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Chernomorets pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutKirill Suslov has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
1‑5 against Spartak Kostroma, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
1 for Ilja Zhigulev, marked 7.92, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chernomorets and Spartak Kostroma, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
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.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑5 Timur Matveev left the room before anybody could ask which.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chelyabinsk were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilja Zhigulev and Chernomorets agree another 3 years.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Anton Antonov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
105 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Rubin Yalta had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
“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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Yenisey keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
29 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.
0‑3 to Rodina, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chaika keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
44 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Saturn have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kirill Suslov. The answer from Chernomorets has not changed — yet.
The deal with Arsenal Tula 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
Chernomorets asked and Spartak 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Martovoy 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Botond Angyal is living that version at Chernomorets, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
Chernomorets have made the call to Spartak Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Dylan Ragolle 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Timur Matveev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Volga defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timur Matveev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kirill Morozov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chernomorets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Krasian Kolev signs something — a contract at Chernomorets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Match9 Jan 2027
After 4 games, Chernomorets finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against KAMAZ; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Chernomorets will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Martovoy. 2‑0 against Ufa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Krasian Kolev's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nzube Chukwurah scored in the 86th minute, Rotor had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Chernomorets took the lot.
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.
Bartłomiej Ciepiela 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.
Marked 7.50 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Chernomorets had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Timur Matveev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7.70, 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.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.82, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Position 15, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximilian Onisiwo, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Timur Matveev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
33 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.
Position 17 and 17 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.
1 for Igor Konovalov, marked 7.90, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.96, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Dylan Ragolle 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timur Matveev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
115% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kirill Morozov has his answer from Chernomorets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Timur Matveev left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Timur Matveev on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anton Antonov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chernomorets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
“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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Chelyabinsk spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chernomorets.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
115% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
13 new faces, and Chernomorets 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Igor Konovalov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Chernomorets have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxim Khalilov is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.56, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timur Matveev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernomorets told Daniil Martovoy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Zaurbek Pliev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chernomorets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Georgy Natabashvili has written the date down.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chernomorets would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Spartak Tambov go through and Chernomorets go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 for Kirill Suslov, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Kirill Suslov 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
133% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nzube Chukwurah has just signed for Chernomorets, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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.
He is 19 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
He is 15, and nobody at Chernomorets signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Up for the corner, and Ilja Zhigulev delivers — 7.80
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilja Zhigulev scored, was marked 7.80, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Chernomorets asked and Akron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Krasian Kolev 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.
“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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Chernomorets close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 0 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Yenisey keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Ilja Antsiferov 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $39.0K has been paid because Ilja Antsiferov is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kasjan Semmerling has, at Chernomorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krasian Kolev 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Maxim Khalilov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Volga next, and one man in the Chernomorets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The clubs have shaken hands with Cherepovets; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Moscow is saying, and nobody at Chernomorets is enjoying the guessing.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.84, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bartłomiej Ciepiela has just signed for Chernomorets, and for once the answer mattered.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernomorets have done the hard part with Dinamo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $25.0K — a club that wants David Ozmanov enough to be asked twice.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chernomorets have done the hard part with Dinamo Bryansk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Chernomorets offered $24.0K; Ufa said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Textilschik have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0‑1 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Kirill Suslov 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.
“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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Timur Matveev left the room before anybody could ask which.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
Chernomorets have gone to Ufa with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Dmitry Starodub 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Martovoy 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eduard Fedoseev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Galkin has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timofey Gusev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
1‑4 to Rotor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Zaur Tarba scored, was marked 7.44, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilja Zhigulev and Chernomorets agree another 2 years.
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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Chernomorets dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timur Matveev after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Chernomorets have made the call to Shinnik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Chernomorets are still learning each other