Marked for Andro Jolokhava
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
130 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Merani
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Dinamo Tbilisi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Merani
Pablo Ricardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Samtredia have kept their man, and Merani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pablo Ricardo, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Aslan Mutaliev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Ruslan Askerov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ruslan Askerov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Saburtalo 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jemal Tabidze 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Saburtalo asked and Dinamo Batumi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Shota Diakonidze is 18, and Saburtalo 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for JP Murilo is in the works
Saburtalo have made the call to Vasco da Gama. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Caíque is in the works
Saburtalo have made the call to Juventude. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Zugdidi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Welligton has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Saburtalo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Levan Tsotsonava
145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market18 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Merani have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Merani
Pablo Ricardo 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Merani will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market18 Jan 2027
Merani have let the market know Giorgi Gvasalia can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market18 Jan 2027
A season-long audition: Dinamo Tbilisi still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Merani's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Mate Turmanidze ended with $94.0K changing hands and Dinamo Batumi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Saburtalo
Beka Dartsmelia 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Levan Kvaratskhelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market18 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tornike Arveladze 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksandre Ananidze 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Romano 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Merani 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Merani
Pablo Ricardo 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bakar Laghadze, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Aslan Mutaliev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aslan Mutaliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Merani
Pablo Ricardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luka Tsulaia commits to Merani for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Igor Khaimanov out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Aslan Mutaliev damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Igor Khaimanov out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Merani
Lasha Chaladze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Andro Jolokhava
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The dugout
Renat Gagity knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Aslan Mutaliev damages knee ligaments — 87 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
72 days out for Igor Khaimanov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Javohir Esonqulov and Merani agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Merani
Zviad Sikharulia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Andro Jolokhava
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Merani know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
79 days out for Igor Khaimanov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Merani
Lasha Chaladze 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Javohir Esonqulov takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javohir Esonqulov provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Merani's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Merani has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
Torpedo Kutaisi left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Merani asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Merani
Lasha Chaladze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Dinamo Batumi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nodar Kavtaradze. The answer from Merani has not changed — yet.