The Guria Courier
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Guria
João Assunção and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Malisela Morudu 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Otar Kiteishvili signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Otar Kiteishvili and Guria agree another 3 years.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
When it matters, Kichi Meliava plays
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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Nodar Iashvili goes back to face Dinamo Tbilisi
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nodar Iashvili’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Guria needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Tsotne Chotalishvili knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tsotne Chotalishvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
- Squad João Assunção starts on the language
- Looking ahead Home comforts ahead for Guria