Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sapovnela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sergio Rodríguez 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Sifuentes 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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Saba Chakvetadze is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Marked 5.61. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mads Abrahamsen did not need any: 8.27, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sapovnela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sergio Rodríguez 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mads Abrahamsen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Victor Peter was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.64. 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Christos Kryparakos will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Sapovnela escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sapovnela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sergio Rodríguez 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 Jul 2028
Victor Peter 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. José Sifuentes has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.46 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of José Sifuentes at his very best
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sapovnela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bence Pintér has agreed terms with Saburtalo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Milde 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Paul Milde 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. José Sifuentes has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 5.51. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
90 minutes played. Abdulla Mohamed found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sioni went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The terraces10 Apr 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Sergio Rodríguez 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Milde 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sapovnela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Milde 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sapovnela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Pele van Anholt 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 Oct 2027
Paul Milde 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sapovnela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sapovnela can pretend not to have heard.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Paul Milde 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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sapovnela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sapovnela can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mads Abrahamsen did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Paul Milde 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Mads Abrahamsen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Sapovnela deserved better, and so did he.
Sifiso Mbidana had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Samtredia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Paul Milde 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sapovnela can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sapovnela will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Sifiso Mbidana’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sapovnela.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Paul Milde 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.
At 23 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.
Paul Milde 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 Jun 2027
Victor Peter 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Victor Peter was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.07. 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sapovnela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sapovnela, another week without a signature from Victor Peter.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sapovnela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Sapovnela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Paul Milde 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Victor Peter 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Christos Kryparakos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
The chase for Avtandil Labadze ended with $170.0K changing hands and Samtredia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“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; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Matthieu Ezikian 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 terraces18 Jan 2027
Sapovnela 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 Avtandil Labadze, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Peter 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.