Marked for Avtandil Okriashvili
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Temur Kiteishvili
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolkheti lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tornike Ananidze 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guga Palavandishvili 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Kolkheti have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Temur Kiteishvili
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolkheti lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $520.0K sale of Lasha Kiteishvili
He is going to Samtredia, the club has $520.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market25 Jan 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 Kolkheti can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
Shukura come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kolkheti did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Guga Palavandishvili 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Lasha Kiteishvili has left for Samtredia in a $520.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Temur Kiteishvili
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolkheti lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 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 Kolkheti, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A move Max Guerrero would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Max Guerrero is living that version at Kolkheti, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Guga Palavandishvili 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Max Guerrero and Kolkheti agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mikheil Janelidze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guga Palavandishvili 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 watch16 Nov 2026
“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 Kolkheti, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tornike Ananidze signs something — a contract at Kolkheti or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market16 Nov 2026
Kolkheti have let the market know Guga Palavandishvili can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolkheti can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bader Kabli is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tornike Ananidze 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guga Palavandishvili 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 watch19 Oct 2026
“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 Kolkheti, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lasha Ananidze, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Davit Janelidze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruggero Cassano 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davit Janelidze, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lasha Mikautadze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Chances created: 5. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Kolkheti
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Kolkheti are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Shukura deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lasha Zivzivadze reports back to Kolkheti with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market7 Sep 2026
Kolkheti say no — this time
The offer from Chikhura for Vakhtang Kashia 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 Sep 2026
Tornike Ananidze 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guga Palavandishvili 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mamuka Ananidze, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kolkheti had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.