Mykola Mykhailenko 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 Dec 2029
Danil Skorko 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 a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Artem Bondarenko 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikolay Mirskiy and Oleksandriya agree another 4 years.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutMarian Shved asks for a word with the manager
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Danil Skorko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serhiy Buletsa signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Oleksandriya 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.
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 Marian Shved has written the date down.
4 goals in 7 games at Pogon — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Oleksandriya updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Oleksandriya will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Nov 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.
8.14. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Oleksandriya, another week without a signature from Heorhii Bushchan.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Oleksandriya told Marian Shved something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
Boardroom93% of the income goes out in wages at Oleksandriya
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oleksandriya 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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleh Kudryk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Oleksandriya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.72 for the rest of it.
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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: 19. 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Dynamo Kyiv next, and one man in the Oleksandriya dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Mykola Mykhailenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Danil Skorko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Oleksandriya, another week without a signature from Matty Longstaff.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Oleksandriya would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, 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 Nikolay Mirskiy is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
7.89, 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.
Oleksii Hutsuliak 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 Oct 2029
Danil Skorko 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marian Shved. 3‑1 against Rukh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Marian Shved was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Oleksandriya, another week without a signature from Marian Shved.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleh Kudryk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Oleksandriya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Oleksii Hutsuliak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Danil Skorko 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bryan Castillo. 2‑1 against Obolon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The offer from Prykarpattia for Oleh Kudryk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serhiy Buletsa signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Kryvbas will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matty Longstaff scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Oleksandriya, 3‑2 the final word against Kryvbas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.” Interim Coach on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rukh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $71.6K of what Oleksandriya paid for Dmytro Shynkarenko is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Oleksandriya 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mykola Mykhailenko wants continental football; whether Oleksandriya can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Metalist will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Maksym Bahachanskyi has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Podillia go through and Oleksandriya go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Oleksandriya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Wisla Krakow have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Danylo Kravchuk. The answer from Oleksandriya has not changed — yet.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Mykola Mykhailenko, marked 7.86, 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.
The deal with Rukh 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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Maksym Kartashev has agreed terms with Karpaty for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yaroslav Karpizin has, at Oleksandriya, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mykola Mykhailenko scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Aug 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oleksandriya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Poltava have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bohdan Khoma. The answer from Oleksandriya has not changed — yet.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Oleksandriya is running low.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Danil Skorko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Oleksandriya people have started saying his name 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Danil Skorko 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mykola Mykhailenko wants continental football; whether Oleksandriya can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Danil Skorko 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bryan Castillo signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya 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 Marian Shved has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andi Hadroj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Danil Skorko 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Oleksandriya will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Oleksandriya are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Oleksandriya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $346.5K — a club that wants Oleksandr Lomaha enough to be asked twice.
The fee is $340.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Livyi Bereh drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Oleksandriya have gone to Podillia 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.
Oleksandriya and Nyva have settled on $110.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The shirt still fits. Mykola Mykhailenko is back at Oleksandriya, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Oleksandriya have gone to Livyi Bereh with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Podillia have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: ŁKS Łódź will make the call about Artem Liehostaiev this week. Oleksandriya have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oleksandriya and Dynamo Kyiv have settled on $1.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
$29.0K was the most the club would pay and Inhulets 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Metalurh Zaporizhzhia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Oleksandriya. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Oleksandriya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The phone has started ringing about Danylo Kravchuk again, and this time the name on the line is ŁKS Łódź. Oleksandriya are listening politely and promising nothing.
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Danil Skorko 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.
30 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Daniil Vashchenko is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Oleksandriya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Oleksandriya had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Oleksii Hutsuliak 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Viktor Dolhyi signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutAndi Hadroj knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Danil Skorko 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 a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad21 May 2029
6 new faces, and Oleksandriya are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serhiy Buletsa signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Oleksandriya have no good answer.
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 Pablo Castro has written the date down.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Danil Skorko 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yaroslav Shaparenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Heorhiy Sudakov 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. Valentyn Nazarenko 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Oleksandriya than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Dolhyi knocks on the manager's door
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Metalist. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ángel Torres trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Oleksandriya 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.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad23 Apr 2029
10 new faces, and Oleksandriya are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nikolay Mirskiy has written the date down.
In brief
BoardroomThe Oleksandriya production line keeps running
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serhiy Buletsa signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Oleksandriya. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Oleksandriya that is a harder question to answer.
“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 Oleksandriya will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Bohdan Vekliak has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Heorhii Bushchan has taken the hint, and Oleksandriya are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Oleksandriya, another week without a signature from Denys Pidhurskyi.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oleksandriya has been clear about where Oleh Kudryk stands, which is more than many ever get.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Metalist. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Oleksandriya is running low.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oleksandriya 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 Oleksandriya 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ruslan Marlos and Oleksandriya agree another 3 years.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Viktor Dolhyi 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.
Nobody at Oleksandriya 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 Serhiy Buletsa signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Oleksandriya would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 12 on 33 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
A season average of 6.54 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Oleksandriya know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Serhiy Buletsa and Oleksandriya agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Bryan Castillo will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Oleksandriya escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oleksandriya and Dynamo Kyiv have settled on $250.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.
Oleksandriya asked and Metalurh Zaporizhzhia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Viktor Dolhyi
SquadOleksandriya are still strangers to each other
1‑5 against Dynamo Kyiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zorya keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Oleksandriya and Dynamo Kyiv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oleksandriya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Denys Pidhurskyi scored in the 89th minute, Epicentr had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Oleksandriya took the lot.
$960.0K was the most the club would pay and Shakhtar 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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Feb 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.
Oleksandriya asked and Zorya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oleksandriya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to Shakhtar 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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Feb 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
23 appearances at Metalist and the goals have stopped going in. Oleksandriya lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Oleksandriya
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The deal with Nyva is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guram Giorbelidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 appearances at Metalist and the goals have stopped going in. Oleksandriya lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Bryan Castillo scored in the 88th minute, Veres had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Oleksandriya took the lot.
7.23, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
11 clean sheets from 21 appearances at Metalist. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Oleksandriya and Shakhtar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guram Giorbelidze 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.
Beaten 6 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑6, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Viktor Dolhyi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Oleksandriya, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Oleh Yaremchuk left the room before anybody could ask which.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
Looking aheadThe leaders are next for Oleksandriya
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 shut-outs in 17 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Maksym Tatarenko has been having a lot of them.
The dugout25 Dec 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.” Oleh Yaremchuk chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Oleksandriya man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Bryan Castillo was the best thing in any of them.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Yurii Kopyna’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oleksandriya needing him to play as if none of it matters.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bryan Castillo provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Shakhtar will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Oleksii Hutsuliak has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabiano 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Bryan Castillo in the middle of it, and Rukh unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guram Giorbelidze 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.
“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 dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Viktor Dolhyi'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.
0‑4 to Kolos, 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.
Heorhii Bushchan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.29, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Oleksandriya, and 9 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout11 Dec 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Oleh Yaremchuk to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Dolhyi knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Danil Skorko 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.
Shakhtar will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luka Latsabidze has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guram Giorbelidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 14, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout27 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Oleh Yaremchuk to a room that had heard them before.
Heorhii Bushchan 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
Danil Skorko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Viktor Dolhyi'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.
Nobody at Oleksandriya 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.
Kryvbas next, and one man in the Oleksandriya dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Obermüller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oleksandriya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Nov 2028
Danil Skorko 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 Danylo Kravchuk, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Heorhii Bushchan'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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Oleh Yaremchuk left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentyn Sudakov provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Up for the corner, and Andi Hadroj delivers — 7.77
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Andi Hadroj scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Oleksandriya and Zorya, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.73, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I watch every Oleksandriya game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kolos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Slavytskyi 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.
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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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
Danil Skorko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Polissia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ben Whiteman has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.61, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Oleh Yaremchuk left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Dolhyi dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutViktor Dolhyi knocks on the manager’s door
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guram Giorbelidze 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Viktor Dolhyi'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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Epicentr in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Oleksandriya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Oleksandriya, 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Danil Skorko 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bryan Castillo. 1‑0 against Kudrivka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Dmytro Panimash is 20, and Oleksandriya have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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.
The dugout9 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.” Oleh Yaremchuk kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.82, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Metalist left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Danil Skorko 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Oleksandriya, and 3 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oleh Yaremchuk after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Kudrivka will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Salem M'Bakata has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Minute 87, against Veres, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
It needed Bryan Castillo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Veres, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Oleh Yaremchuk was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Oleksandriya dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Mirskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Oleksandriya told Vitalii Dakhnovskyi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 manager has not finished forgetting Viktor Dolhyi'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.
7.34, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Oleksandriya had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Oleh Yaremchuk was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Oleksandriya dressing room was either.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $710.3K of what Oleksandriya paid for Nazarii Vorobchak is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 33 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Didyk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vorskla have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Oleksandriya will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
“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 Oleksandriya, 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Roman Didyk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Oleksandriya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marian Shved has, at Oleksandriya, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
Vorskla did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $670.0K for Marian Shved, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Vashchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Oleksandriya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Vorskla is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Heorhii Bushchan 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.
Oleksandriya offered $260.0K; Ahrobiznes 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Roman Didyk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inhulets have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 dugout21 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Viktor Dolhyi'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.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Dolhyi dropped after a run of poor form
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Artem Shulianskyi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$670.0K on the table at Vorskla. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Shakhtar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$260.0K on the table at Ahrobiznes. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Roman Didyk 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. Matty Longstaff has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Oleksandriya have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Oleksandriya asked and Inhulets 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 thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $111.1K of what Oleksandriya paid for Oleksiy Khoblenko is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
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.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ivan Kohut is living that version at Oleksandriya, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chase for Ivan Kohut ended with $190.0K changing hands and Chornomorets out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Livyi Bereh for Artem Shulianskyi 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.
$7.0M was the most the club would pay and Korona 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.
The name of Daniil Vashchenko has come up in conversations Oleksandriya were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Oleksandriya
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Didyk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Oleksandriya and Korona have settled on $7.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oleksandriya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Chornomorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kryvbas paid $960.0K and Oleksandriya took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Teimuraz Tsalughelashvili has just signed for Oleksandriya, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Roman Didyk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Zorya 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vorskla have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Roman Didyk 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with LNZ is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Oleksandriya know it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vorskla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oleksandriya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Bukovyna for Artem Shulianskyi 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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $5.0M of what Oleksandriya paid for Oleksandr Pikhalionok is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
Dynamo Kyiv paid $2.2M and Oleksandriya took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and UCSA waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Dynamo Kyiv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jota Pereira. The answer from Oleksandriya has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oleksandriya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artur Andreychyk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmytro Shynkarenko is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Viktor Dolhyi has written the date down.
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oleksandr Pikhalionok 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.” Andrii Khoma and Oleksandriya agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Danil Skorko 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 Guram Giorbelidze, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Viktor Dolhyi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oleksandriya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Oleksandriya will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Heorhii Bushchan 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
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Argyris Darelas 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.
24 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Oleksandriya now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edson 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 Vikentiy Voloshyn is on 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 Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Oleksandr Safronov 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
23 appearances at Prykarpattia and the goals have stopped going in. Oleksandriya lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Oleksandriya has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oleksandr Pikhalionok 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 May 2028
Viktor Dolhyi 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Boardroom8 May 2028
85% of the income goes out in wages at Oleksandriya
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Oleksandriya would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bryan Castillo signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oleksandr Pikhalionok 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 Edson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Oleksandriya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Oleksandriya will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
Heorhii Bushchan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Danil Skorko 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Oleksandriya have no good answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bryan Castillo and Oleksandriya agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Danil Skorko 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.
Epicentr will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jiovany Ramos has pre-agreed a move to Oleksandriya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
Oleh Kudryk’s loan is measured in nothing happening
8 clean sheets from 23 appearances at Prykarpattia. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleksandr Safronov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Oleksandriya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Heorhii Bushchan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Oleksandriya told Oleksandr Pikhalionok something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
87% of the income goes out in wages at Oleksandriya
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Safronov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oleksandriya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oleksandr Pikhalionok 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
Danil Skorko 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 Jota Pereira and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
Oleksandr Safronov 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Oleksandriya know it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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 Oleksandriya will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0-8, 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.
3 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Mar 2028
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Oleksandriya and Dynamo Kyiv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match15 Mar 2028
After 6 games, Oleksandriya finally taste it again
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dynamo Kyiv; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Nobody left the Oleksandriya dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oleksandriya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
8 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
6 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.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Danil Skorko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Dolhyi is still being punished for one mistake
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Artem Shulianskyi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
5 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Savchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Oleksandriya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Heorhii Bushchan 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 Mar 2028
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Skorko 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.
Oleksandriya asked and Prykarpattia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Metalurh Zaporizhzhia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Rukh for Oleksandr Safronov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oleksandriya 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.” Oleksandriya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Oleksandriya have 4 straight wins of it.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Oleksandriya close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Polissia moved on, Patrick Obermüller reports back to Oleksandriya, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Podillia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oleksandriya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Oleksandriya and Chernihiv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oleksandriya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have shaken hands with Kryvbas; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Oleksandr Safronov has agreed terms with Karpaty for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Oleksandr Pikhalionok 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.
Oleksandriya have gone to Shakhtar 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 from Zorya for Oleksandr Safronov 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LNZ have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleksandr Pikhalionok. 2‑0 against Ahrobiznes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Oleksandriya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Papa Ndiaga Yade provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous 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 Oleksandriya can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andi Hadroj is living that version at Oleksandriya, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Chornomorets is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
Add another name to the list: Chernihiv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artur Andreychyk. The answer from Oleksandriya has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and IMT waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oleksandriya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: Jihlava have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oleksiy Khoblenko. The answer from Oleksandriya has not changed — yet.
Oleksandr Safronov 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Oleksandriya. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Patrick Obermüller has his answer from Oleksandriya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.93, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8.01. 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Oleksandriya, and 2 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Oleksandriya scored in the 119th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oleksandr Pikhalionok 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Oleksandriya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artur Andreychyk and Oleksandriya agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.