Marked for Ramiz Ndoj
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Feb 2029
The mood at Samtredia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad19 Feb 2029
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.
Market19 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Samtredia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Samtredia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match20 Nov 2028
Samtredia sink to position 14
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market20 Nov 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Asad Asadov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Asad Asadov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Samtredia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Julen Cordero 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Murillo 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
Crisis
The terraces7 Aug 2028
Anger at Samtredia spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Davit Daraselia has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match5 Aug 2028
8 matches without a win for Samtredia
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Samtredia are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Aug 2028
8 matches without a goal for Samtredia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Aug 2028
Ramiz Ndoj 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 Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ramiz Ndoj: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Samtredia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Aug 2028
336 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market7 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 May 2028
No end in sight to Samtredia's wait for a win
26 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Samtredia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match6 May 2028
0‑3 to Dinamo Tbilisi, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match8 May 2028
Samtredia are in real trouble now
Position 14, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market8 May 2028
“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.
Market8 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Brian Lopez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Lopez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Samtredia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Mchedlishvili and Samtredia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 May 2028
Samtredia cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad8 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Luka Archaia 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Samtredia's wait for a win
25 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Samtredia has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 May 2028
Daniel Suško has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Samtredia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 May 2028
Julen Cordero 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
3 matches without a goal for Samtredia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 May 2028
“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 Samtredia know it.
Squad1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Tsulaia, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Samtredia
22 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.
Match5 Apr 2028
Saburtalo ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for Brian Lopez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Lopez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Samtredia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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 ratings10 Apr 2028
Giorgi Gvishiani ran the middle of the pitch — 6.98
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 6.98, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Market10 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Helistano Manga has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Samtredia.
Match8 Apr 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Mar 2028
The wait goes on for Samtredia
16 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Daniel Suško
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Suško will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Samtredia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davit Samurkasovi and Samtredia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Julen Cordero 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
7 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match4 Mar 2028
Samtredia cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Levan Lobjanidze 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Irakli Janelidze 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Tamaz Makatsaria out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Samtredia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Samtredia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market28 Feb 2028
“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.