Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Maksym Luniov 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Kryvbas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykola Kohut was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Maksym Luniov 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 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chornomorets told Anel Ryce something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viacheslav Surkis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Zorya had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chornomorets and Shakhtar, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑6 defeat, delivered by Viktor Karavayev to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Viktor Karavayev to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Viktor Karavayev to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Maksym Luniov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chornomorets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Chornomorets that is a harder question to answer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Luniov 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 Mykola Kohut was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Viktor Karavayev to a room that had heard them before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Maksym Luniov 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 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.
“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 dugout30 Sep 2030
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.” Viktor Karavayev, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets 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 Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vavá Guerreiro has his answer from Chornomorets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 dugout23 Sep 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Viktor Karavayev to a room that had heard them before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maksym Luniov. 3‑1 against Kudrivka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Mykola Kohut 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
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.” Viktor Karavayev, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chornomorets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Chornomorets until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viacheslav Surkis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maksym Korobov 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 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.
200 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.
110 minutes played. Denys Matvienko found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Poltava went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Vasyl Buialskyi, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Maksym Korobov 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 Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrii Khoma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chornomorets can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Probiy for Valentyn Sudakov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eitan Weissman is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Maksym Luniov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Aug 2030
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chornomorets and Polissia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Maksym Luniov 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 Aug 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitalii Farasieienko 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 phone has started ringing about Valentyn Sudakov again, and this time the name on the line is Podillia. Chornomorets are listening politely and promising nothing.
Chornomorets have made the call to Monaco. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1‑4 to Kryvbas, 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 Chornomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Maksym Luniov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vavá Guerreiro and Chornomorets agree another 2 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match27 Jul 2030
Maksym Luniov wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Maksym Luniov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Karpaty went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentyn Sudakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets 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 Chornomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Rukh for Viacheslav Surkis 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Metalist for Andrii Khoma 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.
Maksym Korobov 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.
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 Ivan Kohut is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chornomorets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chornomorets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chornomorets have done the hard part with Dynamo Kyiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vadym Vitenchuk and Chornomorets agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Maksym Korobov 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.
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metalist waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Antofagasta had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Oleksandr Kapliienko has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Chornomorets asked and Palmeiras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 136 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Dynamo Kyiv have accepted the money. What Chornomorets do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Vitalii Farasieienko has come up in conversations Chornomorets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Chornomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Feyenoord, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Metalist will make the call about Andrii Khoma this week. Chornomorets have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mykyta Nemetskov has, at Chornomorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Maksym Luniov 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 Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
150 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets 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 Chornomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chornomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maksym Luniov 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 Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
157 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 141 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Add another name to the list: Vojvodina have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Viacheslav Surkis. The answer from Chornomorets has not changed — yet.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrii Khoma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chornomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chornomorets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Maksym Korobov 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitalii Farasieienko 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentyn Sudakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maksym Luniov 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Chornomorets that is a harder question to answer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oleksandr Pshenychniuk has his answer from Chornomorets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Oleksandr Pshenychniuk is on it.
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.
Maksym Luniov 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chornomorets will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Maksym Luniov 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Korobov 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 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 Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutMoses Jarju has become a man the manager trusts
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets 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 Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chornomorets would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrii Khoma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maksym Korobov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oleksandr Kapliienko has his answer from Chornomorets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chornomorets will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Vavá Guerreiro is on it.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Maksym Luniov 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Luniov 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.
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitalii Farasieienko 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viacheslav Surkis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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 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 Oleksandr Pshenychniuk 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 Vitalii Farasieienko has written the date down.
Maksym Korobov 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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrii Khoma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Crvena Zvezda is saying, and nobody at Chornomorets is enjoying the guessing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maksym Luniov and Chornomorets agree another 3 years.
Maksym Luniov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Probiy had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 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. Chornomorets have done the hard part with Crvena Zvezda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Maksym Korobov 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitalii Farasieienko 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Polissia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
4 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.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chornomorets can pretend not to have heard.
1‑3 to Shakhtar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Vitaliy Zinchenko again, and this time the name on the line is Livyi Bereh. Chornomorets are listening politely and promising nothing.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentyn Sudakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitalii Farasieienko 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 words a physio says slowly. 83 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 Chornomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Maksym Luniov 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 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.
Crvena Zvezda 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
The deal that would have taken Viacheslav Surkis to Vojvodina has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Chornomorets with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maksym Luniov 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Chornomorets scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitalii Farasieienko 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.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chornomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mlada Boleslav waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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. Chornomorets will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Vadym Vitenchuk and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktor Karavayev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrii Kusyi 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 is no crueller way to lose a football match. Chornomorets scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chornomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maksym Korobov 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 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.
A 2‑1 win over Rukh, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Maksym Luniov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Andrii Khoma at his very best
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Obolon were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The offer from Cobresal for Viacheslav Surkis 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
A brace, and Andrii Khoma takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrii Khoma provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maksym Luniov 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.
2‑3 to Polissia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Andrii Khoma 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.
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. 12 actions, 7.38, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The phone has started ringing about Viacheslav Surkis again, and this time the name on the line is Cobresal. Chornomorets are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Viktor Karavayev to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaliy Zinchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maksym Luniov 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maksym Korobov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktor Karavayev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Kiril Popov is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets 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 Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Maksym Korobov 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.
0‑3 to Shakhtar, 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maksym Luniov 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kiril Popov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Nobody left the Chornomorets 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.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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 0‑3 Viktor Karavayev left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitalii Farasieienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktor Karavayev after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Kiril Popov'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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Shakhtar next, and one man in the Chornomorets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
1 for Vadym Vitenchuk, marked 7.89, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Maksym Luniov 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Denys Yarovyi has, at Chornomorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Marked 8.49 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Viktor Karavayev on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A brace, and Maksym Luniov takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maksym Luniov provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaliy Zinchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kristian Bilovar 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.
Three points for Chornomorets, 2‑0 the final word against Vorskla in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Mykola Kohut 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Viktor Karavayev on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Korobov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Kiril Popov'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vitalii Farasieienko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Chornomorets will try again when the window opens; Dynamo Kyiv may not be selling by then.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Prykarpattia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Chornomorets close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 10 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 offer from NK Osijek for Viacheslav Surkis 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.
Maksym Luniov 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Serhiy Rebrov obliged against Inhulets. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Chornomorets.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chornomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Burton Albion, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Maksym Luniov 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 offer went to Metalist this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front 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. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 name of Artem Prysiazhniuk has come up in conversations Chornomorets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Probiy had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from LNZ for Artem Prysiazhniuk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pisa have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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.
A brace, and Andrii Khoma takes the afternoon — 9.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrii Khoma provided it, and the 9.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dynamo Kyiv have accepted the money. What Chornomorets do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chornomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Karpaty have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrii Khoma. The answer from Chornomorets has not changed — yet.
The offer from Oleksandriya for Yevhenii Riazantsev 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrii Khoma. 3‑1 against Veres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artur Avahimian and Chornomorets agree another 2 years.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AZ have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nyva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Viktor Karavayev recited it perfectly.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Crvena Zvezda is saying, and nobody at Chornomorets is enjoying the guessing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chornomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from UCSA for Valentyn Sudakov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Andrii Khoma has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Polissia for Andrii Khoma 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bohdan Zinchenko is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Luniov 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 offer from Mlada Boleslav for Viacheslav Surkis 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.
The deal with Parma 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.
At 23 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.
Maksym Luniov 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Viktor Kovalenko has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladyslav Klymenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 23 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladyslav Klymenko has agreed terms with Zorya for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Chornomorets 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.” Oleh Pushkariov and Chornomorets agree another 3 years.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chornomorets have done the hard part with Shakhtar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chornomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kyrylo Popov has agreed terms with Ahrobiznes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chornomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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.
Andrii Kusyi 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 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 Artur Avahimian is on it.
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chornomorets can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The offer from Kifisia for Viacheslav Surkis 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chornomorets will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kristian Bilovar is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Maksym Luniov 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 Mykola Kohut 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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chornomorets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Chornomorets that is a harder question to answer.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Viktor Kovalenko has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmytro Kliots and Chornomorets agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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.
Giorgi Robakidze 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 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 Bohdan Zinchenko is on it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chornomorets is running low.
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.
Andrii Kusyi 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 Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vasyl Kurko 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 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 Artur Avahimian is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chornomorets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Chornomorets could ask drops and the wages Vladyslav Klymenko can ask rise.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chornomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maksym Luniov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Mykola Kohut 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 Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chornomorets will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Luniov 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kyrylo Zhukovskyi is living that version at Chornomorets, and it tends to show in the first month.
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Kyrylo Zhukovskyi is 20, and Chornomorets have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Moses Jarju
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Maksym Luniov 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kristian Bilovar is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Anton Zadereiko is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Kristian Bilovar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Kohut 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 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 Artur Avahimian is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chornomorets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chornomorets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Chornomorets that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chornomorets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chornomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Chornomorets have no good answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaliy Zinchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Andrii Kusyi 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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dmytro Kliots is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladyslav Klymenko 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 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 Kristian Bilovar is on it.
The money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $4.7M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
In brief
The dugoutDmytro Kliots asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Chornomorets close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Position 12 on 26 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chornomorets have done the hard part with Shakhtar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yevhenii Riazantsev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maksym Luniov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Dmytro Kliots 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Marked 6.88 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.
0‑3 to Shakhtar, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Maksym Luniov 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nazar Hurin has, at Chornomorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yevhen Tymchyk 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vitaliy Zinchenko 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Voluntari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Chornomorets and Kolos have settled on $1.3M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Kristian Bilovar 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Chornomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chornomorets have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bohdan Zinchenko commits to Chornomorets for another 4 years.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Dmytro Kliots 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Dmytro Kliots 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michael Ouly will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
2‑6 to Rukh, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chornomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maksym Luniov 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chornomorets and Rukh in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Vitenchuk 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.
200 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.
Beaten 6 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Maksym Luniov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykola Kohut was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Kristian Bilovar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Viktor Kovalenko after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Anel Ryce has moved up it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Andrii Khoma
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yevhenii Riazantsev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chornomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Vitenchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Viktor Kovalenko on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Chornomorets 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.