The Meshakhte Tkibuli Courier
Squad6 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davit Ananidze
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Meshakhte Tkibuli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Archil Tsitaishvili has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Meshakhte Tkibuli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Meshakhte Tkibuli
Giorgi Papuashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
$566.2K of the owner's money at Meshakhte Tkibuli
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Meshakhte Tkibuli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
No signings allowed at Meshakhte Tkibuli
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The Meshakhte Tkibuli debt reaches $9.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Denis Nikittsev wants to go home
“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 Meshakhte Tkibuli know it.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Giovanni Mulumba gets picked when it counts
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 Giovanni Mulumba is on it.
In brief
- Market The shop window has Lasha Kalandadze in it
- The dugout Aleks Dedgjonaj knocks on the manager’s door
- The dugout Mohammed Bua Mbilia keeps his manager's vote