Edwar Bracho 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.
Gugua Iakobashvili 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Beka Arveladze 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Luka Rekhviashvili has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Chikhura have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chikhura has been clear about where Kabelo Setoba stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chikhura, another week without a signature from Nika Buzaladze.
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A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Chikhura is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Chikhura has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A new face in his position, and August Strömberg suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Chikhura have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.