The words a physio says slowly. 122 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Aduana Stars for Evan Watts 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 Vorskla can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vorskla can tell you which week it ends in.
Vladyslav Rybak 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Plovdiv have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vorskla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Volodymyr Sharun has just signed for Vorskla, and for once the answer mattered.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at All Boys is saying, and nobody at Vorskla is enjoying the guessing.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vorskla can tell you which week it ends in.
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vorskla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vorskla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Vorskla are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladyslav Rybak 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. Colón have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Andrii Kusyi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
146 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vorskla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Vladyslav Rybak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
3 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyrylo Kovalets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Gabriel Menezes has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vorskla have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vorskla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kyrylo Kovalets 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Almirante Brown have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Vorskla that is a harder question to answer.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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. Uruguay Montevideo have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Tristán Suárez: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“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 Vorskla, and it is not being withdrawn.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Vorskla have paid $1.2M for Oleksandr Vivdych, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
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. Botev Plovdiv have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Uruguay Montevideo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vorskla know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Nesterenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vorskla have done the hard part with Poltava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer from Remo Stars for Evan Watts was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vorskla offered $230.0K; LNZ said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyrylo Kovalets 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vorskla know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Botev Plovdiv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The offer went to LNZ 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen 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. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vladyslav Voitsekhovskyi has his answer from Vorskla; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The clubs have shaken hands with Epicentr; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Epicentr keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $410.0K has been paid because Nazarii Nych is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Vadym Chervak 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 Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vorskla will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Shabanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Orest Kuzyk 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Chervak 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 Vorskla, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vorskla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Vladyslav Semotiuk has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadAndrii Kusyi is training like a man with a point to make
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Chervak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vorskla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vorskla, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Gleiker Mendoza’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vorskla, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla 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 Alex Chidomere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Vorskla. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vorskla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vorskla, 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 Evan Watts has written the date down.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Vorskla and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Vorskla 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vorskla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Davi Santos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Vadym Chervak 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 Alex Chidomere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Shabanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Chidomere signs something — a contract at Vorskla 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 Vorskla. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen 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.” Volodymyr Makhankov and Vorskla agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla 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 Alex Chidomere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Vorskla prefer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Vorskla. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutMatvii Burenko asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Orest Kuzyk
31Edition
The Vorskla Post
1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Vorskla close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Orest Kuzyk 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.
Vorskla offered $23.0K; Podillia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vorskla ran out of time with Rukh. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Chidomere signs something — a contract at Vorskla or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 35 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Rukh have accepted the money. What Vorskla do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Denys Sydorchuk after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $200.0K has been paid because Andrii Kusyi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
$57.0K on the table at Oleksandriya. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$44.0K was the most the club would pay and Nyva were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alex Chidomere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vorskla will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Two goals and a mark of 9.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Artem Serdiuk takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Artem Serdiuk provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vorskla have done the hard part with Dynamo Kyiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vorskla and Chornomorets in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Three points for Vorskla, 4‑2 the final word against Chornomorets in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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.
Davi Santos 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oleksiy Stepanenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Metalist have accepted the money. What Vorskla do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joachim Williamson is living that version at Vorskla, and it tends to show in the first month.
Orest Kuzyk 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.
Shakhtar will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Oleksandr Lomaha has pre-agreed a move to Vorskla, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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. Vorskla will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Lassina Traoré is in the works
Vadym Chervak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vladyslav Semotiuk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vorskla needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Denys Sydorchuk left the room before anybody could ask which.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Vorskla pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vorskla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Heorhiy Rebrov 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Nyva? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Victoriia Sumy in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Prince Chisom Chibueze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Livyi Bereh will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Orest Kuzyk 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vorskla are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Vadym Chervak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tiago Pinto is living that version at Vorskla, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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: 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Vadym Chervak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Denys Sydorchuk left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vadym Chervak’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vorskla needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Denys Sydorchuk after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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 Evan Watts has written the date down.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vorskla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Vadym Chervak 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.” Prince Chisom Chibueze and Vorskla agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Denys Sydorchuk chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Prykarpattia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Davi Santos signs something — a contract at Vorskla or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vorskla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Davi Santos takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Davi Santos provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Orest Kuzyk 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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 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. 9 actions, 7.34, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Denys Sydorchuk on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Adam Aït Ali Oulhaj has, at Vorskla, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Denys Sydorchuk to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vorskla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Denys Sydorchuk on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Ahrobiznes next, and one man in the Vorskla dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vorskla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Vadym Chervak 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Oleh Shakhov 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vorskla are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Half the programme played, position 9, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Vorskla dressing room in a hurry
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Chidomere is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Vorskla is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vorskla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Chornomorets; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Chidomere. 2‑1 against Probiy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Denys Sydorchuk, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Chornomorets.
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.
Orest Kuzyk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Chervak 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oleksiy Lunyov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Vorskla scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Orest Kuzyk 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 Issac Dijkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Victoriia Sumy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vorskla will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Denys Sydorchuk on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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 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 18 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.
Three points for Vorskla, 2‑0 the final word against Nyva in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Denys Sydorchuk kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anton Baidal’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vorskla needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Partizan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Chervak 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.
Ivan Potskhveriia 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Livyi Bereh scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vorskla has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Vorskla 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Minsk is saying, and nobody at Vorskla is enjoying the guessing.
Vadym Chervak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladyslav Semotiuk 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yevhen Bondar 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. Yaroslav Kovalenko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Evan Watts has just signed for Vorskla, and for once the answer mattered.
Orest Kuzyk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Espanol have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Denys Sydorchuk left the room before anybody could ask which.
Vorskla have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Vorskla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadym Chervak 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: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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 Denys Sydorchuk to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Legia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vorskla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Victoriia Sumy 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.
Vorskla asked and Dynamo Kyiv 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 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. Polissia have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Vadym Chervak 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 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Vorskla know which stage they are at.
Vorskla asked and Chornomorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mykola Shevchenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dmytro Tsygankov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mykhailo Pikhalyonok has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yevhen Kravets is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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. Vorskla will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matvii Burenko provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Volodymyr Makhankov is living that version at Vorskla, and it tends to show in the first month.
$280.0K on the table at Bukovyna. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Vorskla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadym Chervak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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.