Marked for Daniel Boakye
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Feb 2031
131 days out for Revaz Janelidze after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tskhinvali will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Nika Kobiashvili falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Nikita Panov 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 Feb 2031
“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 dugout24 Feb 2031
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.
Market24 Feb 2031
The name of Lucas Flores keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tskhinvali say nothing, which says plenty.
Match24 Feb 2031
Tskhinvali in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 50 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.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 Feb 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Daniel Boakye leaves Tskhinvali the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Nov 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Archil Ananidze damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Market4 Nov 2030
“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 Tskhinvali, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Nov 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlo Locatelli commits to Tskhinvali for another 2 years.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Tskhinvali
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Chakvetadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market4 Nov 2030
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mamuka Kashia 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.
Market4 Nov 2030
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Revaz Arveladze has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market4 Nov 2030
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bachana Qazaishvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
The manager makes an example of Otar Arveladze
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Oct 2030
A fracture rules Nika Kobiashvili out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Archil Ananidze damages knee ligaments — 61 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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 dugout28 Oct 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tskhinvali may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Oct 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Tskhinvali
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Otar Arveladze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
Levan Kharabadze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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.
Market28 Oct 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stanislav Reshetnikov signs something — a contract at Tskhinvali or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match28 Oct 2030
Tskhinvali in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 50 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Sep 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Sep 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Archil Ananidze
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Sep 2030
“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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Chakvetadze 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Nikita Panov 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Levan Kharabadze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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 dugout30 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sandro Qazaishvili, and the manager let it.
Market30 Sep 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stanislav Reshetnikov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Revaz Janelidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Aug 2030
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
A brace, and Revaz Qazaishvili takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Revaz Qazaishvili provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.02, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market5 Aug 2030
Daniel Boakye 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 Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Aug 2030
Sapovnela made Tskhinvali work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Nika Kobiashvili 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 terraces5 Aug 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Revaz Qazaishvili 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 dugout5 Aug 2030
The manager makes an example of Lucas Flores
“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 ratings5 Aug 2030
Ninety minutes of Levan Kharabadze at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tskhinvali.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Jul 2030
3‑0, and Sandro Chakvetadze took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Tskhinvali tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
Davit Shengelia: 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.” Tskhinvali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Jul 2030
“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 Jul 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nika Kobiashvili and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Chakvetadze 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.
Player ratings8 Jul 2030
Levan Kharabadze was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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.
Player ratings8 Jul 2030
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
$996.5K on the table at Tskhinvali
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
7 new boys at the Tskhinvali academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
In brief
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Thiago
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
No hiding place for Avtandil Gamsakhurdia
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market3 Jun 2030
Daniel Boakye 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 Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sandro Shengelia commits to Tskhinvali for another 2 years.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Tskhinvali
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Kobiashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Jun 2030
1‑2 to Saburtalo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nika Kobiashvili, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tskhinvali.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Otar Arveladze slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Otar Arveladze is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market6 May 2030
“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.
Squad6 May 2030
Sandro Chakvetadze 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 ratings6 May 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 May 2030
Rezo Lomidze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Revaz Qazaishvili is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match4 May 2030
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout6 May 2030
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.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nika Kobiashvili, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2030
The cup run ends for Tskhinvali
1‑2 against Shukura, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
No sign of nerves from Kastriot Kola at 20 — 7.76
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kastriot Kola did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market8 Apr 2030
Daniel Boakye 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 Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Apr 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlo Locatelli and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years.
Match6 Apr 2030
Dinamo Batumi left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Tskhinvali
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Kobiashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
“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.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Tskhinvali release $996.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Feb 2030
“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.
Market25 Feb 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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 dugout25 Feb 2030
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 Davit Shengelia is on it.
Market25 Feb 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tskhinvali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Stanislav Reshetnikov has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jan 2030
“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.
Market28 Jan 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2030
Everything agreed with Dinamo Tbilisi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Rezo Lomidze 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 dugout28 Jan 2030
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 Davit Shengelia is on it.
Market28 Jan 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stanislav Reshetnikov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
Thiago knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Jan 2030
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Davit Chakvetadze leaves Tskhinvali the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Dec 2029
Daniel Boakye 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 Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Dec 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Sandro Chakvetadze 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rezo Lomidze, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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 Davit Shengelia is on it.
Market31 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stanislav Reshetnikov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Revaz Janelidze 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
The training reports on Saba Kvaratskhelia are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Dec 2029
“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 Dec 2029
Nika Kobiashvili falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 Dec 2029
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
“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.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
Sandro Shengelia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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 dugout24 Dec 2029
Revaz Janelidze 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.
Market24 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Giorgi Gvishiani’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market24 Dec 2029
Tskhinvali have made Daniel Boakye available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
The Tskhinvali academy earns its keep
16 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Dec 2029
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 17-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Market3 Dec 2029
“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 Tskhinvali, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nika Kobiashvili and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Temur Kakabadze
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
Revaz Janelidze: 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.” Tskhinvali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Nov 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sandro Qazaishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sandro Shengelia commits to Tskhinvali for another 2 years.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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 dugout5 Nov 2029
“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 dugout5 Nov 2029
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.
Market5 Nov 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tskhinvali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saba Kvaratskhelia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.