Marked for Rezo Meskhidze
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Shukura's wait for a win
25 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shukura has to find a result from somewhere.
Market16 Aug 2027
Aaron Icaza hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shukura can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ole-Monrad Alme was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Vasco Espejo left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Vasco Espejo will call it something else in private.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Aaron Icaza 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.42 on the card, and the Shukura support went home talking about one name.
Squad16 Aug 2027
One booking too many, and Roland Paku sits out. Shukura lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Match14 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Chikhura will be the happier side with the point.
Market16 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luka Nozadze may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Shukura's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shukura has to find a result from somewhere.
Market17 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shukura can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shukura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shukura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Kleyder Barreto 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.
Match15 May 2027
Shukura come up short against Dila
Dila left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Shukura
11 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.
Market10 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shukura can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 May 2027
Roland Paku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shukura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
“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 Shukura know it.
Squad10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Vasco Espejo
“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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.14 on the card, and the Shukura support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luka Nemsadze
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shukura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lasha Zivzivadze and Shukura agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Shukura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Shukura
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Shukura are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Roland Paku 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 Sep 2026
“I want to play”: Vasco Espejo speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Minago Khozrevanidze, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dinamo Batumi will be the happier side with the point.
Market14 Sep 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Luka Meskhidze leaves Shukura the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ole-Monrad Alme 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Vasco Espejo
“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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nedeljko Stojišić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 Aug 2026
Shukura have made Giorgi Kavtaradze available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shukura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Nozadze
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is a particular relief in a club addressing the thing its own crowd has been shouting about. Alexandr Seraskhov arrives for exactly that job, and now he has to do it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Beka Kharshiladze's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Rezo Meskhidze 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Luka Meskhidze has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shukura.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giorgi Kavtaradze commits to Shukura for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ole-Monrad Alme 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shukura, another week without a signature from Irakli Giritiladze.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Shukura
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Rezo Meskhidze is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Shukura has been clear about where Rezo Meskhidze stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Shukura had a different afternoon.
Market3 Aug 2026
Shukura shop where it costs nothing
Ole-Monrad Alme signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.