“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sport Recife keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Torpedo Kutaisi offered $29.0K; Dila 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.
“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; Torpedo Kutaisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kolkheti-1913 Poti have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dato Bukia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Torpedo Kutaisi told Demetre Buliskeria something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Meshakhte Tkibuli 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to Dila 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi offered $18.0K; Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriel Lyra and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dato Bukia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Ordabasy for Ruan Costa 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.
4 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Dila with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fortaleza have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Rickson again, and this time the name on the line is Sioni. Torpedo Kutaisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bahia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nodar Lominadze 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 offer went to Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santos have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Squad28 May 2029
11 new faces, and Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Temur Ananidze after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans 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.
In brief
The dugoutDato Bukia has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Torpedo Kutaisi will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad21 May 2029
Dato Bukia 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.
“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; Torpedo Kutaisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
Oskar Casagrande 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Dato Bukia 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Temur Ananidze on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marcão 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 had been thinking. Dato Bukia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.74, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
12 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Temur Ananidze after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Telavi spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Rickson, marked 7.46, 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nodar Lominadze scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A 3‑2 win over Telavi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Dato Bukia 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.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Gabriel Lyra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ábris Sámson has, at Torpedo Kutaisi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Oskar Casagrande 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nodar Lominadze 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Torpedo Kutaisi has been clear about where Sori Mané stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Dato Bukia is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dato Bukia’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Torpedo Kutaisi needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dinamo Tbilisi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Dato Bukia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Raphael Rodrigues has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Dila with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Tucumán have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marlon Martins and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 2 years.
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 Marcão is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Samtredia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladimer Mamuchashvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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. Torpedo Kutaisi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Nodar Lominadze 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 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 Vladimer Mamuchashvili is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Torpedo Kutaisi has been clear about where Diego Deisadze stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Kutaisi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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. Torpedo Kutaisi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
16 appearances and 0 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.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mateo Stamatov has his answer from Torpedo Kutaisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
Dato Bukia returns from a loan that gave him nothing
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
“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 Telavi know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Rosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and 1 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Kutaisi, 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 Gabriel Goulart has written the date down.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Marcão’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The agreement at Merani has 3 days left in it, with 0 appearances to weigh. Three doors: keep him, sell him, lend him again — and none of them stays open long.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Telavi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Telavi know it.
Shalva Burjanadze 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
Words at Telavi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramon Vinicius 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 new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Telavi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Telavi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Caio Rosa 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 new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
Nobody at Telavi 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Telavi could ask drops and the wages Welton Júnior can ask rise.
44 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Dato Bukia 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Telavi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramon Vinicius 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 new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Vini Moura is on 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 Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
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.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Kutaisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Telavi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telavi 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 Klismahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Telavi 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.
David Luis is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Welton Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Telavi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dato Bukia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Telavi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Klismahn 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 new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
11 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Telavi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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 Caio Rosa is on it.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Welton Júnior’s negotiating for him
24 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
44 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
7.41, 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.
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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
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.
“I watch every Torpedo Kutaisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Telavi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Torpedo Kutaisi has been clear about where Rickson stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Torpedo Kutaisi, another week without a signature from Liam Shaw.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcão trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telavi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jean Carlos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Telavi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telavi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Telavi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Klismahn 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Telavi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The new man at Telavi has worked with Ramon Vinicius before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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. Telavi will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vini Moura trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Dato Bukia 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.
“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; Telavi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi people have started saying his name 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Torpedo Kutaisi close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 20 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.
$500.0K on the table at Dinamo Batumi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Curicó Unido said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zurab Museliani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telavi can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Dila 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. Radnicki 1923 have kept their man, and Telavi 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.
“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; Telavi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Welton Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Telavi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Samtredia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Telavi 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.” Telavi 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 Telavi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Telavi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Klismahn 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.
Telavi asked and Spaeri said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody at Telavi saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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 Elivelton is on it.
A 2‑1 win over Torpedo Kutaisi, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
115 minutes played. Giorgi Ivaniadze found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Torpedo Kutaisi went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Telavi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dila, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jean Carlos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Telavi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Telavi can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Dato Bukia 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Torpedo Kutaisi have done the hard part with Merani, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimer Mamuchashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Torpedo Kutaisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Telavi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Temur Ananidze after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is Higor's
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gonio can pretend not to have heard.
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.
13 combined actions and 7.48. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Niklas Determann 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Telavi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telavi 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.” Telavi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramon Vinicius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Elivelton 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Dinamo Batumi 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
6 goals in one match, Giorgi Arabidze on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Torpedo Kutaisi and Iberia 1999.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spaeri waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi pay $410.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lukão provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The deal with Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Kljajić and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Position 3, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Davit Skhirtladze. 1‑0 against Gagra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Temur Ananidze on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Giorgi Arabidze has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Liam Shaw is living that version at Torpedo Kutaisi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimer Mamuchashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi offered $180.0K; Dinamo Tbilisi 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 had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
14 new faces, and Torpedo Kutaisi 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Torpedo Kutaisi close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 2 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Samgurali Tskaltubo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Nodar Lominadze 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 Ibrahim Sabra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Lokomotivi will make the call about Dato Bukia this week. Torpedo Kutaisi have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Lokomotivi is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Akhaladze 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. Samgurali Tskaltubo have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Lokomotivi have made the call to Iberia 1999. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Torpedo Kutaisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guram Okriashvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Lokomotivi for Diego Deisadze 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimer Mamuchashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Batumi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jaze Kabia has just signed for Torpedo Kutaisi, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
Everybody at Torpedo Kutaisi saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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 Giorgi Arabidze is on it.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jaze Kabia arrives at Torpedo Kutaisi with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Nodar Lominadze 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 Viktor Bliznichenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mateo Itrak is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
6 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.
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.
Position 5, 27 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
In brief
The dugoutDato Bukia asks for a word with the manager
Nodar Lominadze 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 Vladimer Mamuchashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I watch every Torpedo Kutaisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gonio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gonio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gonio can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vian Seewald 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Nobody at Gonio 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
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.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Gonio. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, 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 Torpedo Kutaisi 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 Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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 Vladimer Mamuchashvili is on it.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
27 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rickson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gonio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kakhaber Kakhabrishvili and Gonio agree another 2 years.
Niklas Determann 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tornike Kapanadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nikoloz Tskhovrebashvili is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Dato Bukia is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.