Position 14 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Ihor Potimkov 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Isak Järdler, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Inhulets would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Ihor Potimkov
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets 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 Inhulets 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 Ihor Potimkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Isak Järdler has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleksandr Yevtushenko. 2‑0 against Probiy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Oleksandr Dykhtiaruk 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oleksandr Yevtushenko and Inhulets agree another 4 years.
Illia Hadzhuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ihor Potimkov 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.” Anton Maksymchuk has his answer from Inhulets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Ihor Potimkov 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 Stashkiv was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vadym Stashkiv trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lukas Posch has, at Inhulets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Ihor Potimkov 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Serhii Kyslenko had Inhulets level again within 1 minutes, and Chornomorets never got to play with a lead at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joël van der Wilt has agreed terms with Nyva for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Oleksii Vorobiov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Inhulets have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Bohdan Mohylnyi in the middle of it, and Ahrobiznes unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Inhulets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal that would have taken Anton Maksymchuk to Ahrobiznes has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Inhulets with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Danylo Knysh is a Inhulets player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Yan Shevchenko has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Inhulets have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ahrobiznes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 18 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. Inhulets have done the hard part with Obolon, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Inhulets asked and Obolon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
LNZ go through and Inhulets go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces3 Sep 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stanislav-Nuri Malysh and Inhulets agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
90 minutes played. Bohdan Mohylnyi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Feniks went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Yaroslav Karpizin 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 Aug 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yevhen Yanovich scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The phone has started ringing about Yaroslav Karpizin again, and this time the name on the line is Bukovyna. Inhulets are listening politely and promising nothing.
Yaroslav Karpizin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Inhulets have made the call to Oleksandriya. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dmytro Bezkleinyi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleh Novakovskyi has just signed for Inhulets, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
“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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Riazantsev 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.
Yaroslav Karpizin 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Sirenko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Viktor Sydorchuk has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Inhulets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Inhulets have done the hard part with Zorya, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Inhulets asked and Nyva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Inhulets is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Illia Hadzhuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dmitry Gusarov has just signed for Inhulets, and for once the answer mattered.
Metalist paid $74.0K and Inhulets took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The phone has started ringing about Anton Maksymchuk again, and this time the name on the line is Podillia. Inhulets are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Dmytro Bezkleinyi has come up in conversations Inhulets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Inhulets asked and Chornomorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Inhulets 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Bukovyna 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.
The phone has started ringing about Stanislav Ursolov again, and this time the name on the line is Metalist. Inhulets are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Inhulets asked and Rukh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Oleksandr Dykhtiaruk.
Chornomorets 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and UCSA waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Kryvbas for Yaroslav Karpizin 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.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Inhulets have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
Nobody at Inhulets 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Yevtushenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inhulets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Danylo Tuzenko has agreed terms with Chornomorets for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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 Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Oleh Manastyrnyi.
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. Stanislav Ursolov has moved up 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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serhii Kyslenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Dykhtiaruk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Inhulets 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Yaroslav Karpizin 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 Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yevhen Yanovich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Dmytro Bezkleinyi 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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Yaroslav Karpizin’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know 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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Dykhtiaruk is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Murilo Rian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yaroslav Karpizin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Dmytro Bezkleinyi has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Illia Hadzhuk 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oleksandr Yevtushenko signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dmytro Bezkleinyi has written the date down.
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Yevhen Yanovich 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Inhulets 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 have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Inhulets will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Inhulets. 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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Inhulets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Riazantsev 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Dmytro Bezkleinyi is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets 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 Illia Hadzhuk 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 Inhulets 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 Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Inhulets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Yaroslav Riazantsev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Edward Payton are not good
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Yaroslav Karpizin has agreed terms with Metalist for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Yevhen Yanovich 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Inhulets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Oleh Manastyrnyi.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yevhen Yanovich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Dmytro Bezkleinyi is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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 was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Illia Hadzhuk 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Dykhtiaruk is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Inhulets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 8 on 43 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.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Kudrivka will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Artem Hrabilin has pre-agreed a move to Inhulets, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bohdan Mohylnyi and Inhulets agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Illia Hadzhuk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Inhulets 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmytro Bezkleinyi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmytro Bezkleinyi. 1‑0 against Nyva, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Inhulets ran out of time with Obolon. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bukovyna moved on, Yaroslav Karpizin reports back to Inhulets, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Inhulets and Obolon have settled on $53.0K. 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Stanislav Bondarenko has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Inhulets have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Inhulets can tell you which week it ends in.
In brief
SquadIllia Hadzhuk falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Inhulets have gone to Dynamo Kyiv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Inhulets asked and Nyva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Inhulets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Riazantsev 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serhii Kyslenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karpaty have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yevhen Yanovich 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stanislav-Nuri Malysh and Inhulets agree another 2 years.
Ihor Potimkov 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 Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Inhulets asked and Zorya 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 offer from Karpaty for Mykhailo Khromei 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with LNZ 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.
Inhulets asked and Kryvbas 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 name of Dmytro Bezkleinyi has come up in conversations Inhulets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Inhulets has been clear about where Yevhen Yanovich stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Anton Stepanenko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Serhii Kyslenko has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Chornomorets came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Oleksii Slutskyi'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.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmytro Bezkleinyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ihor Potimkov 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 Serhii Kyslenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Danylo Knysh
1 for Yevhen Yanovich, marked 7.59, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Ihor Potimkov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yevhen Yanovich. 1‑0 against Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody at Inhulets 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Murilo Rian 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Inhulets have had the benefit of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
7.56, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Anton Stepanenko was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Inhulets dressing room was either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Anton Stepanenko could afford to be generous.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murilo Rian 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.
Ihor Potimkov 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 Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Inhulets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Inhulets 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. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk 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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Half the programme played, position 7, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Anton Stepanenko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murilo Rian 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 team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Obolon.
Obolon next, and one man in the Inhulets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Inhulets is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ihor Potimkov 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Inhulets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Oleksii Slutskyi'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.
Victoriia Sumy next, and one man in the Inhulets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inhulets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutDenys Shaida knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ihor Potimkov 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Edward Payton is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“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.
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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serhii Kyslenko. 1‑0 against Livyi Bereh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislav Ursolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Inhulets game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chornomorets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Dykhtiaruk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmytro Bezkleinyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ihor Potimkov 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 Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Anton Stepanenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Illia Hadzhuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Inhulets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Murilo Rian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vorskla next, and one man in the Inhulets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yaroslav Karpizin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Dmytro Bezkleinyi is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yaroslav Karpizin signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk 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.” Anton Stepanenko after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
6 new faces, and Inhulets are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Anton Stepanenko chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Yevtushenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Inhulets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmytro Bezkleinyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ihor Potimkov 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 Stanislav Ursolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Inhulets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Ihor Potimkov 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.
$180.0K was the most the club would pay and Bukovyna were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Xander Caenepeel is living that version at Inhulets, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serhii Kyslenko. 2‑1 against Ahrobiznes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ihor Potimkov is living that version at Inhulets, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bukovyna moved on, Yaroslav Karpizin reports back to Inhulets, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Inhulets 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.
$330.0K was the most the club would pay and Polissia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows 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 Inhulets 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 Serhii Kyslenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Inhulets asked and Kryvbas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Prykarpattia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Anton Maksymchuk. The answer from Inhulets has not changed — yet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑3 against Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
Inhulets are taken apart by Kryvbas — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
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. 16 actions, 6.76, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is going to Metalist, the club has $1.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The deal with Nyva 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.
Stanislav Oksenenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 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 Inhulets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with LNZ 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.
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bukovyna waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Oleksandriya for Artem Benediuk 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Serhii Kyslenko provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Add another name to the list: Probiy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dmytro Bezkleinyi. The answer from Inhulets has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Obolon have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Dynamo Kyiv 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.
$22.0K was the most the club would pay and Bukovyna were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Illia Hadzhuk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kryvbas have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Feniks waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from LNZ for Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yevhen Yanovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything was agreed with Ahrobiznes and then the doctor spoke. Inhulets have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Inhulets offered $50.0K; Bukovyna said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Inhulets
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Inhulets offered $17.0K; Livyi Bereh said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Add another name to the list: Feniks have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dmytro Bezkleinyi. The answer from Inhulets has not changed — yet.
Inhulets asked and Kudrivka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Inhulets have made the call to LNZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murilo Rian 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Inhulets 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, wages agreed, and Livyi Bereh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Bukovyna 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maksym Skorokhod will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Vorskla 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.
Inhulets offered $22.0K; Bukovyna said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yevhen Yanovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Obolon keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Illia Hadzhuk 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 Livyi Bereh 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.
Inhulets have gone to Bukovyna with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Inhulets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dynamo Kyiv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Artem Benediuk 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.
Inhulets offered $17.0K; Livyi Bereh said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Chornomorets for Yaroslav Karpizin 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
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.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Inhulets enter the window
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
Daniil Myronchuk 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murilo Rian 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 Inhulets 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Yevtushenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhii Kyslenko 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maksym Skorokhod will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maksym Skorokhod 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stanislav Oksenenko is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Artem Benediuk 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 Serhii Kyslenko 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inhulets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets 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 Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Illia Hadzhuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Inhulets could ask drops and the wages Maksym Skorokhod can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Inhulets. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Vegard Ylvisaker Olsen is on 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.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanislav Ursolov 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 Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inhulets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inhulets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Daniil Myronchuk 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Yevtushenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Inhulets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yaroslav Karpizin 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 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 Dykhtiaruk is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanislav Ursolov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Inhulets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Yaroslav Karpizin's mistake
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Benediuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Maksym Skorokhod.
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. Yevhen Yanovich has moved up 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 Inhulets 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 Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Illia Hadzhuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dmytro Panchenko'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.
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 Vitalii Rozhko is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislav Ursolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yehor Kniazev has his answer from Inhulets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Oleksii Slutskyi'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Mohylnyi signs something — a contract at Inhulets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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 goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Stanislav-Nuri Malysh.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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 0‑2 Anton Stepanenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Inhulets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Inhulets and Livyi Bereh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serhii Kyslenko. 4‑2 against Livyi Bereh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Inhulets asked and Nyva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Bohdan Mohylnyi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.52. 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Artem Benediuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
Inhulets asked and Kudrivka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Inhulets know it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Epicentr; Inhulets go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yevhen Yanovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Artem Benediuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Illia Hadzhuk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veres have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Illia Hadzhuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kryvbas have kept their man, and Inhulets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with LNZ 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Inhulets can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Inhulets asked and Metalist said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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.” Anton Stepanenko after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mykhailo Khromei will call it something else in private.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Inhulets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislav Ursolov 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Serhii Kyslenko decided otherwise. Metalurh Zaporizhzhia had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Serhii Kyslenko provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.96 beside his name.
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Illia Hadzhuk 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Artem Benediuk 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
“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 dugout3 Jan 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Anton Stepanenko to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia next, and one man in the Inhulets dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
0‑1 to Bukovyna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Anton Stepanenko to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Benediuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murilo Rian 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nazar Prykhodko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Inhulets needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inhulets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Artem Benediuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Illia Hadzhuk 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maksym Luniov. 2‑0 against Prykarpattia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.62 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Inhulets had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Anton Stepanenko, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutIllia Hadzhuk asks for a word with the manager
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets 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 Illia Hadzhuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Inhulets told Nazar Prykhodko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Anton Stepanenko after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Illia Hadzhuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Inhulets will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Inhulets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inhulets, another week without a signature from Maksym Skorokhod.
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.
In brief
The dugoutVitalii Rozhko has become a man the manager trusts