Marked for Benjamin Twum
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
64 days out for Luka Metreveli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market20 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Irakli Kakabadze 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Twum, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Stephen Chukwude asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“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 Lokomotivi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market20 Dec 2027
Lokomotivi have made Stephen Chukwude available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Asayure’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Dec 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 Lokomotivi can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 Dec 2027
Only the photograph left for Luigi Gaspar
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luigi Gaspar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotivi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Dennis Amoako and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irakli Kakabadze 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
“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 terraces13 Dec 2027
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Lokomotivi would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Market13 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Benjamin Twum’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager plants his flag on Dennis Amoako
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Dennis Amoako’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Luka Metreveli out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokomotivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Nov 2027
“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 Lokomotivi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
Market15 Nov 2027
Luigi Gaspar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Nov 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 Lokomotivi know it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Giorgi Qazaishvili 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Luigi Gaspar
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Lokomotivi will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Luka Metreveli out for 123 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokomotivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Oct 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“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.
Market25 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Irakli Kakabadze may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Oct 2027
“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 Lokomotivi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kakabadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Lokomotivi will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Luigi Gaspar asks for a word with the manager
“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 Oct 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Benjamin Twum’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Vasil Khositashvili has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lokomotivi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotivi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Lokomotivi
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
13 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match11 Sep 2027
Saburtalo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Lokomotivi will try again when the window opens; Chikhura may not be selling by then.
Squad13 Sep 2027
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 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 Lokomotivi can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lokomotivi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Luigi Gaspar
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luigi Gaspar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotivi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Chikhura 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Lokomotivi 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
A bad afternoon for Lokomotivi against Dila
0‑2 to Dila, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruben Gauto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Lokomotivi have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kakabadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Lokomotivi asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match7 Aug 2027
Lokomotivi rescue it on 89 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Samtredia had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad9 Aug 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Torpedo Kutaisi continues; the message travels home.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Twum
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giorgi Todua commits to Lokomotivi for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Filipe Alves, 36, rolls back the years — 8.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match3 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play Lokomotivi right now
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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Luigi Gaspar has come up in conversations Lokomotivi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match3 Jul 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Irakli Kakabadze’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lokomotivi.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotivi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kakabadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Lokomotivi asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sioni waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Krasnodar 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Dennis Amoako 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Irakli Kakabadze 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alashkert have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match14 Jun 2027
Half the programme played, position 7, 21 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Twum, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Jun 2027
4‑1, and Dennis Amoako took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Lokomotivi tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer from Dila for Dennis Amoako 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market7 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lokomotivi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad7 Jun 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Otar Chakvetadze and Lokomotivi agree another 3 years.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kakabadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Samtredia have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings24 May 2027
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.82, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad24 May 2027
Irakli Kakabadze 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.
Match22 May 2027
1‑2 to Dinamo Tbilisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 May 2027
Giorgi Gogatishvili 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehrubon Karimov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch24 May 2027
“I watch every Lokomotivi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Kutaisi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout24 May 2027
Dato Bukia 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 Dato Bukia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match8 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Lokomotivi against Dila
0‑2 to Dila, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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 dugout10 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Beka Okriashvili after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout10 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lokomotivi told Luigi Gaspar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tskhinvali in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Dennis Amoako keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lokomotivi say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 May 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Sioni, and it could have been more.
Match1 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Lokomotivi right now
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.
Squad3 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 Lokomotivi know it.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irakli Kakabadze 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 terraces3 May 2027
He is 23 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market3 May 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 May 2027
Dato Bukia named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dato Bukia is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Beka Okriashvili could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Apr 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A brace, and Irakli Kakabadze takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Irakli Kakabadze provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Boniphanseo Phiri at 21 — 7.95
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Boniphanseo Phiri did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irakli Kakabadze 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 terraces26 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Boniphanseo Phiri has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I watch every Lokomotivi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Kutaisi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.” Beka Okriashvili, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match17 Apr 2027
Sapovnela made Lokomotivi work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match17 Apr 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 ratings19 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luigi Gaspar and Lokomotivi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Giorgi Todua 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.” Beka Okriashvili, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ruben Gauto 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruben Gauto, and the manager let it.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“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 Lokomotivi, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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 Beka Okriashvili to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokomotivi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match6 Mar 2027
3 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filipe Alves and Lokomotivi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Mar 2027
Chikhura made Lokomotivi work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 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 Lokomotivi know it.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
He is 23 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgi Todua, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotivi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kakabadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lokomotivi, another week without a signature from Filipe Alves.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I watch every Lokomotivi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Kutaisi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Otar Chakvetadze 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Dato Bukia has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Otar Chakvetadze
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotivi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lokomotivi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market8 Feb 2027
So close: Giorgi Todua’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Chikhura moved on, Giorgi Todua reports back to Lokomotivi, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kakabadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Lokomotivi asked and Cerro Porteno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Lokomotivi
7 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Otar Chakvetadze
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotivi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lokomotivi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Lokomotivi
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irakli Kakabadze 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andijon have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Giorgi Gogatishvili 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Tskhinvali have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luka Khelashvili. The answer from Lokomotivi has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotivi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Lokomotivi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer from Sioni for Revaz Chakvetadze 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mehrubon Karimov and Lokomotivi agree another 4 years.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Lokomotivi have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Riestra have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Lokomotivi have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ruben Gauto 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokomotivi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Jan 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Irakli Kakabadze 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitario have kept their man, and Lokomotivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Khvicha Lobjanidze 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Archaia, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Lokomotivi have made the call to Deportivo Riestra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market11 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokomotivi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody is after Filipe Alves’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Filipe Alves suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Lokomotivi have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Dila for Dennis Amoako 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Luka Archaia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“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; Lokomotivi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Dennis Amoako 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 targets4 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Giorgi Todua gets it from the manager
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Sioni 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 targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Samtredia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotivi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revaz Chakvetadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotivi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sandro Okriashvili 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokomotivi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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 Lokomotivi will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
20 days out for Filipe Alves after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotivi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Dennis Amoako and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Bergara 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every Lokomotivi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sioni runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Otar Chakvetadze and Lokomotivi agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Filipe Alves breaks a bone — 34 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotivi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Luka Archaia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Archaia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotivi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dennis Amoako 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Lokomotivi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bergara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kakha Kashia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Otar Chakvetadze 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The name of Benjamin Twum keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lokomotivi say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Giorgi Todua has been promised minutes
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 Giorgi Todua has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
56 days out for Filipe Alves after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luka Khelashvili is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Irakli Kakabadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Bergara 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Filipe Alves out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokomotivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotivi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Irakli Kakabadze 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Lokomotivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hélder Maurílio 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Khvicha Gamsakhurdia 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Davit Gvelesiani 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgi Todua, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lokomotivi are still strangers to each other
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
88 days out for Filipe Alves after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Sep 2026
Merani will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Lokomotivi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Dennis Amoako, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotivi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match19 Sep 2026
The drought breaks for Lokomotivi
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Merani were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 20 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.
Squad21 Sep 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 Lokomotivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 9.62 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
$1.3M — a new record at Lokomotivi
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
119 days out for Filipe Alves after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lokomotivi have done the hard part with Tskhinvali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Lokomotivi's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokomotivi has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Samtredia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luka Archaia. The answer from Lokomotivi has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No deal for Ruben Gauto at that price
Lokomotivi offered $66.0K; Samtredia 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Lokomotivi paid $1.3M
Irakli Kakabadze was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.3M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Torpedo Kutaisi will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luka Rekhviashvili has pre-agreed a move to Lokomotivi, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.1M on the table at Zugdidi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dennis Amoako and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Lokomotivi offered $37.0K; Dinamo Batumi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Archil Tsitaishvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dato Gvelesiani 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Beka Gamsakhurdia 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mikheil Chakvetadze 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Twum
“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.