The Samtredia Chronicle
Match14 Aug 2027
Whatever happens, Samtredia do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Giorgi Lobjanidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market16 Aug 2027
Samtredia sign Nika Gvelesiani for $170.0K
The paperwork is done: Nika Gvelesiani joins from Zugdidi in a deal worth $170.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Irakli Gamsakhurdia gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Irakli Gamsakhurdia has just signed for Samtredia, and for once the answer mattered.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Samtredia spend $170.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $170.0K for Nika Gvelesiani, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to Giorgi Lobjanidze
At 19 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Sondre Stokke
“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 ratings16 Aug 2027
A masterclass from Jiří Januška
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
No time for Tskhinvali to settle
The goal that put Tskhinvali ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Samtredia equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
In brief
- Squad Tsotne Chikovani in a row with a teammate
- Match Jiří Januška rescues a point for Samtredia
- Market Samtredia buy the years ahead of Irakli Gamsakhurdia