The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kryvbas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Yvan Dibango 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleh Sokolov commits to Kryvbas for another 4 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Dmytro Ledvii falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Joseph Jones is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bohdan Khoma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kryvbas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yvan Dibango 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleh Sokolov commits to Kryvbas for another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Ledvii 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 has re-ordered his thinking and Oleksandr Skliar has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Kryvbas 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.
“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 Kryvbas, 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 Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Oleh Kudryk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Milan Mykhalchuk is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Kryvbas that is a harder question to answer.
“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 Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Dmytro Ledvii falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bar Lin signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kryvbas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Ledvii 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.
Kryvbas asked and Ceuta 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Kryvbas will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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. Kryvbas 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 Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kryvbas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yvan Dibango 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Oleh Kudryk 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ivan Kononykhin has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kryvbas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Kryvbas 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Inter keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Dmytro Ledvii 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.
Kryvbas asked and Boca Juniors 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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 36 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kryvbas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PAOK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Dmytro Ledvii 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.
“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 Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kryvbas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Martín SJ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Everything agreed with San Martín SJ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yvan Dibango 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ante Bekavac commits to Kryvbas for another 4 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Dmytro Ledvii 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.
Kryvbas asked and Monza 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: Nyva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maksym Shpylka. The answer from Kryvbas has not changed — yet.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Yvan Dibango at his very best
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
7.69, 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 Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Ledvii 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.
Kryvbas asked and HNK Gorica 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mykyta Kononov will call it something else in private.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
2‑3 to Polissia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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 goal that put Polissia ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Kryvbas equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Shakhtar go through and Kryvbas go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces15 Jan 2029
A cup hiding at Shakhtar leaves Kryvbas explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
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.
Yvan Dibango 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 Dmytro Ledvii was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Tsukanov has become a man the manager trusts
Yvan Dibango was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Holovkin and Kryvbas agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Dmytro Ledvii 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.
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kryvbas.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Valentyn Vanat kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Assane Seck
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas 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 Oleh Kudryk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Dmytro Ledvii falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
7.87, 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.
Yvan Dibango 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.
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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Dmytro Ledvii 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleksandr Rosputko, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Valentyn Vanat kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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 Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Kudrivka will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Dmytro Ledvii 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 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Dmytro Ledvii 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.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kryvbas had all but put away. Metalist will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Dmytro Ledvii 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.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Yvan Dibango 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 Nov 2028
Oleh Kudryk 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.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kryvbas had all but put away. Chornomorets will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Araujo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yvan Dibango 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.
30 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Dmytro Ledvii 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 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 dugout13 Nov 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 Valentyn Vanat to a room that had heard them before.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kryvbas scored in the 113th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas 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 Dmytro Ledvii 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. Matvii Bodnar 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout30 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.” Valentyn Vanat chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Something was said to Vasyl Runich and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Denys Antiukh 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.
Marked 6.69 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 for Araujo, marked 7.81, 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.
Yvan Dibango 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 Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.83. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Valentyn Vanat kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Oleh Kudryk 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.
Something was said to Mykyta Kononov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Veres kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Kryvbas will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Denys Antiukh 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.
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.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
Yvan Dibango 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 Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Araujo. 1‑0 against Karpaty, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Kryvbas will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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.” Valentyn Vanat, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
0‑3 to Shakhtar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Yvan Dibango 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 Oleh Kudryk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout18 Sep 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Valentyn Vanat to a room that had heard them before.
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 Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Andrii Savitskyi
A brace, and Nazariy Rusyn takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nazariy Rusyn provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kryvbas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 27 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Kryvbas 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.
The deal with HNK Gorica 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rotherham United is saying, and nobody at Kryvbas is enjoying the guessing.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Mykyta Kononov is a Kryvbas player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Oleksandriya left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Denys Antiukh 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kryvbas scored in the 105th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kryvbas have done the hard part with Rotherham United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas 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 Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A brace, and Nazariy Rusyn takes the afternoon — 9.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nazariy Rusyn provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Vaduz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Yvan Dibango 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.
7 goals in one match, Bohdan Boichuk on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kryvbas and Kudrivka.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Oleh Kudryk 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The deal with Vaduz 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.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Kryvbas asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PSV keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Kryvbas asked and Thun said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhoel Maya 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.
Everything agreed with HNK Gorica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Inter keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Oleh Kudryk 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.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑4 against Dynamo Kyiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
“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 Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Feyenoord keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Kryvbas
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vicenza have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nazariy Rusyn 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 Borges is on it.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The fee is $730.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Prykarpattia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inhulets have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Hillebrand is living that version at Kryvbas, and it tends to show in the first month.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Denys Antiukh 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.
Kryvbas have made the call to Oliveirense. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmytro Ledvii trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Bukovyna for Maksym Shpylka was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The fee is $250.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Nyva drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Yvan Dibango 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 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kryvbas asked and Accrington Stanley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
9 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
He is 19, he is averaging 6.56, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Holovkin has, at Kryvbas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The chase for Milan Mykhalchuk ended with $240.0K changing hands and Nyva out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Roman Vantukh 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.
Kryvbas have gone to Oleksandriya 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denys Antiukh 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. Mykola Kryvtsov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oleksandr Shevchenko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andriy Tsygankov 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas 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 Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nazariy Rusyn signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Yvan Dibango was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Volodymyr Mulyk is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nazariy Rusyn trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kryvbas has been clear about where Bohdan Khoma stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Araujo signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Denys Antiukh 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.
Oleksandriya will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Felipe Dias has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutAssane Seck has become a man the manager trusts
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denys Antiukh 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 Dmytro Ledvii 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 Borges is on it.
7 goals in 21 games at Poltava — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Kryvbas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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 Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nazariy Rusyn signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Yvan Dibango was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volodymyr Vilivald and Kryvbas agree another 5 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denys Antiukh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Araujo signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Viktor Tsukanov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
17 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Kryvbas
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Denys Antiukh 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleh Kudryk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Borges is on it.
7 goals in 21 games at Poltava — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Kryvbas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas 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 Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nazariy Rusyn signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Yvan Dibango
Yvan Dibango 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 Denys Antiukh 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Araujo signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Joseph Jones has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Araujo’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Oleh Kudryk 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 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. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Denys Antiukh falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nazar Kasarda has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Kryvbas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Denys Antiukh 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 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Kryvbas that is a harder question to answer.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Oleh Kudryk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Araujo signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
17 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a 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 Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Matvii Bodnar to Bukovyna has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Kryvbas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Yvan Dibango 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 Denys Antiukh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Prykarpattia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Serhii Shvets has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kryvbas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Kryvbas 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kryvbas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Kryvbas 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.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Oleh Kudryk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bar Lin has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kryvbas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 40 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas 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 Oleh Kudryk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kryvbas asked and Chernihiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bukovyna had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The chase for Dmytro Ledvii ended with $860.0K changing hands and LNZ out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Kryvbas asked and Polissia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Kryvbas asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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.
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Radion Lisniak has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kryvbas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Oleh Kudryk 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 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Viktor Tsukanov provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 8.22 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Viktor Tsukanov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kryvbas.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
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.” Valentyn Vanat, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Roman Kuzmyn
The dugoutOleh Kudryk knocks on the manager's door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Yvan Dibango 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 Oleh Kudryk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Araujo scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Yvan Dibango 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.
38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Dynamo Kyiv will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nazar Ivaskiv has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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 21 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.
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Valentyn Vanat kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bohdan Boichuk, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 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 Valentyn Vanat to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Bohdan Boichuk and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Viktor Tsukanov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kryvbas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Oleh Kudryk 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Oleh Kudryk is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Assane Seck, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valentyn Vanat was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Kryvbas dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Obolon defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
The dugoutJoseph Jones has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kryvbas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Yvan Dibango 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 Nov 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Volodymyr Mulyk’s exile
The dugoutAssane Seck has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kryvbas scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miracle Williams and Kryvbas agree another 4 years.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhoel Maya 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Valentyn Vanat on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kryvbas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Kudryk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Filippo Alessio’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kryvbas.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Filippo Alessio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
The dugout15 Nov 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.” Valentyn Vanat, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Yvan Dibango 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 Nov 2027
Oleh Kudryk 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.
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.
Half the programme played, position 11, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kryvbas told Borges something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Valentyn Vanat was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Kryvbas dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutOleh Kudryk asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
Yvan Dibango 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 Oleh Sokolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Valentyn Vanat left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Kudryk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Viktor Tsukanov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Oleh Kudryk 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 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Epicentr were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Viktor Tsukanov. 1‑0 against Epicentr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
4 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Oleh Kudryk 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.
Kolos left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Oct 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 Valentyn Vanat to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Kryvbas 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.
Something was said to Joseph Jones and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Yvan Dibango 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.
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.
0‑1 to Metalist, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Oleh Sokolov 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valentyn Vanat after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
0‑3 to Veres, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Oleh Kudryk 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kryvbas has been clear about where Borges stands, which is more than many ever get.
Something was said to Filippo Alessio and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Valentyn Vanat left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Samoilenko 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.” Valentyn Vanat after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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 Borges is on it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Valentyn Vanat left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Bukovyna will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Kryvbas close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The fee is $420.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Polissia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Samoilenko 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 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The deal with Polissia 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PAOK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salvatore Di Mitri is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Roman Vantukh 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.
Kryvbas asked and Botafogo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volodymyr Vilivald and Kryvbas agree another 5 years.
Kryvbas asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 phone has started ringing about Matvii Bodnar again, and this time the name on the line is Nyva. Kryvbas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filippo Alessio. 1‑0 against Rukh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsAssane Seck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
Kryvbas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Borges was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kryvbas have done the hard part with Trabzonspor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Wolfsberger AC keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Yvan Dibango 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. Maksym Shpylka is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Borges was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PAOK is saying, and nobody at Kryvbas is enjoying the guessing.
Yvan Dibango 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. MTK Budapest have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Bar Lin 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.
Kryvbas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Chelsea, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentyn Makarenko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Anton Tymchyk has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ihor Sudakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mykhailo Lunyov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhoel Maya is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kryvbas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yvan Dibango 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.
$91.0K was the most the club would pay and Chornomorets 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have shaken hands with LNZ; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Yvan Dibango 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.
$250.0K 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Clermont Foot have kept their man, and Kryvbas 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Copelotti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutBorges has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from Bukovyna for Matvii Bodnar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The offer went to Polissia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Kryvbas offered $110.0K; Obolon 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Oleh Sokolov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kryvbas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.6M has been paid because Nazariy Rusyn is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The chase for Roman Kuzmyn ended with $580.0K changing hands and Ahrobiznes out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Kryvbas have gone to Obolon with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer went to Chornomorets this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Karpaty 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 clubs have shaken hands with Ahrobiznes; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Add another name to the list: Bukovyna have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Volodymyr Mulyk. The answer from Kryvbas has not changed — yet.
Yvan Dibango 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.
$370.0K was the most the club would pay and Nyva 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matvii Bodnar is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Jhoel Maya is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutJoseph Jones has become a man the manager trusts
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maksym Shpylka is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Yvan Dibango 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 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kryvbas 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 Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhoel Maya 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 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 Kryvbas will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bar Lin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Yvan Dibango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleh Sokolov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Yvan Dibango 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 Oleh Sokolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jhoel Maya'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.
Yvan Dibango 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 Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Borges is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.