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.
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Efrén Mendoza 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.
6 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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Efrén Mendoza 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.
“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 Samtredia, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Samtredia told Lasha Kiteishvili something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Mchedlishvili and Samtredia agree another 2 years.
“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; Samtredia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Olav Øby 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.
5 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Irakli Kakabadze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tornike Kvaratskhelia 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.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Gleb Loyko has agreed terms with Sioni for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Olav Øby 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The fee is $330.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tskhinvali drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lasha Kiteishvili and Samtredia agree another 4 years.
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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Avtandil Janelidze from Tskhinvali for $330.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is going to Samtredia, the club has $330.0K 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.
“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.
Samtredia paid $330.0K and Tskhinvali took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Janelidze 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 words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
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.
“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.
A conversation is coming this week. Tskhinvali will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saba Shengelia 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
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.
“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.
The offer from Saburtalo for Davit Kakabadze 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.
The phone has started ringing about Avtandil Janelidze again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Tbilisi. Tskhinvali are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
In brief
SquadSaba Shengelia falls out with a teammate over standards
94 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 159 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Kakha Mchedlidze 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.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotivi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Davit Janelidze. The answer from Tskhinvali has not changed — yet.
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 words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Klingender 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 words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Saburtalo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tskhinvali were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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.
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 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mikheil Janelidze is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Tskhinvali spent the window trying to move Avtandil Janelidze on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
“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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Shota Ananidze was one of the reasons people came, and $48.0K does not replace that by itself.
The offer from Zugdidi for Tornike Shengelia 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.
William Klingender 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.
Kolkheti paid $48.0K and Tskhinvali took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
8.18. 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kakha Mchedlidze: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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.
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 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Shota Kvaratskhelia obliged against Shukura. 4‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Tskhinvali.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.13 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotivi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Avtandil Janelidze. The answer from Tskhinvali has not changed — yet.
Mamuka Daraselia 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Klingender 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.