Marked for Viktor Bliznichenko
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Apr 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Revaz Kobiashvili
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Mar 2032
A 2‑0 win over Guria, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match3 Apr 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Sioni, and it could have been more.
Player ratings5 Apr 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout5 Apr 2032
Braian Rojas: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings5 Apr 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.78, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Apr 2032
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings5 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market5 Apr 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Mar 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 12‑0 against Sapovnela, and it could have been more.
Squad22 Mar 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antônio Marcos
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Mar 2032
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
A brace, and Halid Doltmourziev takes the afternoon — 9.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Halid Doltmourziev provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad22 Mar 2032
The match ball belongs to Santiago Sala, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Gutte takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
Santiago Sala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
The terraces22 Mar 2032
One of their own: Gutte
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antônio Marcos
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torpedo Kutaisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Mar 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Lautaro Bursich arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lautaro Bursich has, at Torpedo Kutaisi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market8 Mar 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frédéric Efuele will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match6 Mar 2032
Torpedo Kutaisi make home a hard place to visit
11 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.
Squad8 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Mar 2032
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Lautaro Bursich is a Torpedo Kutaisi player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
14 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Sep 2031
Santiago Sala is in the form of his life
A season average of 8.09 with 43 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match13 Sep 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torpedo Kutaisi have 13 straight wins of it.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Levan Shengelia damages knee ligaments — 76 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Match10 Sep 2031
Dila are out and Torpedo Kutaisi go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match13 Sep 2031
6‑0, and Iván Morales took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Torpedo Kutaisi tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Sep 2031
The match ball belongs to Santiago Sala, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad15 Sep 2031
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match13 Sep 2031
8 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad8 Sep 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Santiago Sala
40 goals and a season average of 8.04 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Levan Shengelia damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Match6 Sep 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torpedo Kutaisi have 11 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Sep 2031
The match ball belongs to Santiago Sala, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match6 Sep 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Guria, and it could have been more.
Squad8 Sep 2031
335 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Torpedo Kutaisi know exactly what they have.
Market8 Sep 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market8 Sep 2031
The deal that would have taken Irakli Siradze to Zugdidi has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Torpedo Kutaisi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match6 Sep 2031
Torpedo Kutaisi make home a hard place to visit
10 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad18 Aug 2031
34 goals and a season average of 7.95. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad18 Aug 2031
A fracture rules Nodar Lominadze out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match16 Aug 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torpedo Kutaisi have 8 straight wins of it.
Match16 Aug 2031
Merani will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo Kutaisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
A brace, and Santiago Sala takes the afternoon — 9.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Sala provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market18 Aug 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
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Player ratings18 Aug 2031
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.81, and nobody on the pitch better.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Aug 2031
26 days out for Nodar Lominadze after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A season average of 7.69 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market11 Aug 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match9 Aug 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torpedo Kutaisi have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market11 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Aug 2031
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 48. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Santiago Sala
30 goals and a season average of 7.88 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad28 Jul 2031
42 days out for Nodar Lominadze after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match28 Jul 2031
Position 2 and 57 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market28 Jul 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match26 Jul 2031
Nobody wants to play Torpedo Kutaisi right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Kutaisi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Jul 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market28 Jul 2031
Only the photograph left for Irakli Siradze
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Irakli Siradze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Jul 2031
29 goals and a season average of 7.85. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad21 Jul 2031
49 days out for Nodar Lominadze after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Jul 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Lokomotivi, and it could have been more.
Squad21 Jul 2031
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market21 Jul 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torpedo Kutaisi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
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Match19 Jul 2031
Nobody wants to play Torpedo Kutaisi right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Jul 2031
56 days out for Nodar Lominadze after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Torpedo Kutaisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Santiago Sala is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.79 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market14 Jul 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match12 Jul 2031
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad14 Jul 2031
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market14 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jul 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Jul 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Jun 2031
A fracture rules Nodar Lominadze out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Santiago Sala
22 goals and a season average of 7.61 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market23 Jun 2031
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market23 Jun 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
Elias Franco, 35, rolls back the years — 8.24
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Jun 2031
A fracture rules Nodar Lominadze out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torpedo Kutaisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Jun 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Santiago Sala
21 goals and a season average of 7.56 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad9 Jun 2031
The match ball belongs to Santiago Sala, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match7 Jun 2031
Nobody wants to play Torpedo Kutaisi right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market9 Jun 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match7 Jun 2031
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Torpedo Kutaisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 May 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Guria, and it could have been more.
Player ratings26 May 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad26 May 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Santiago Sala
18 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout26 May 2031
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Match24 May 2031
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match24 May 2031
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Torpedo Kutaisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad26 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 May 2031
500 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad26 May 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings19 May 2031
A brace, and Nikoloz Chikovani takes the afternoon — 9.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikoloz Chikovani provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 May 2031
A brace, and Santiago Sala takes the afternoon — 9.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Sala provided it, and the 9.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 May 2031
17 goals and a season average of 7.45. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings19 May 2031
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.84, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market19 May 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match17 May 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torpedo Kutaisi have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad19 May 2031
Santiago Sala 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings12 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 May 2031
Mateo Itrak has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torpedo Kutaisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 May 2031
Santiago Sala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match10 May 2031
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Torpedo Kutaisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Torpedo Kutaisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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.
Match10 May 2031
A 2‑0 win over Zugdidi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 May 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout12 May 2031
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jaba Kvilitaia, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings12 May 2031
18 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout28 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Levan Shengelia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match26 Apr 2031
7 matches without defeat, and then Saburtalo. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikoloz Chikovani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Apr 2031
0‑1 to Saburtalo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Apr 2031
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Apr 2031
Nobody wants to play Torpedo Kutaisi right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market21 Apr 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Levan Shengelia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Torpedo Kutaisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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.
Match19 Apr 2031
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Torpedo Kutaisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
The manager makes an example of Lautaro Bursich
“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 ratings21 Apr 2031
Ninety minutes of Nikoloz Chikovani at his very best
Marked 8.35. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torpedo Kutaisi.
Squad21 Apr 2031
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torpedo Kutaisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match8 Mar 2031
11 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.
Market10 Mar 2031
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Levan Shengelia 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 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimer Mamuchashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgi Kokhreidze, and the manager let it.
Market10 Mar 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Torpedo Kutaisi, another week without a signature from Nikoloz Chikovani.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.95 on the card, and the Torpedo Kutaisi support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Aug 2030
38 goals and a season average of 7.80. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match10 Aug 2030
Santiago Sala wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Santiago Sala found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Saburtalo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Aug 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Merani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Aug 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market12 Aug 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Torpedo Kutaisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Jul 2030
36 goals and a season average of 7.80. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match27 Jul 2030
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Torpedo Kutaisi did not have in the autumn.
Match27 Jul 2030
Elias Franco wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Elias Franco found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Tskhinvali went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market29 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
Age has not caught Elias Franco yet — 8.75
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market29 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Luka Sanikidze
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Sanikidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
Torpedo Kutaisi have gone to Dila with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Santiago Sala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jul 2030
33 goals and a season average of 7.73. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match13 Jul 2030
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Torpedo Kutaisi did not have in the autumn.
Market15 Jul 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo Kutaisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Jul 2030
Joe Thomas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FK Senica keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Felipe Pires 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.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimer Mamuchashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jun 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo Kutaisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgi Kukhianidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match15 Jun 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad17 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Dila said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Jun 2030
6 matches without defeat, and then Dinamo Batumi. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at Torpedo Kutaisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Franco 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Jun 2030
The match ball belongs to Santiago Sala, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match1 Jun 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Shukura, and it could have been more.
Squad3 Jun 2030
23 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Age has not caught Felipe Pires yet — 8.89
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match1 Jun 2030
Nobody wants to play Torpedo Kutaisi right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Santiago Sala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Jun 2030
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.
Market3 Jun 2030
No place for Mateo Itrak in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mateo Itrak has his answer from Torpedo Kutaisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 May 2030
Santiago Sala is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.46 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout27 May 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match25 May 2030
Nobody wants to play Torpedo Kutaisi right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad27 May 2030
Felipe Pires in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 May 2030
Three points for Torpedo Kutaisi, 3‑1 the final word against Guria in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces27 May 2030
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Santiago Sala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Marked 8.57. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torpedo Kutaisi.
Squad27 May 2030
Warley 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match18 May 2030
Chikhura will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo Kutaisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings20 May 2030
A brace, and Santiago Sala takes the afternoon — 9.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Sala provided it, and the 9.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings20 May 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad20 May 2030
17 goals and a season average of 7.40. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match18 May 2030
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torpedo Kutaisi have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Torpedo Kutaisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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 dugout20 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikoloz Chikovani, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings13 May 2030
Two goals and a mark of 9.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings13 May 2030
Age has not caught Elias Franco yet — 8.97
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad13 May 2030
15 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad13 May 2030
Felipe Pires and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Torpedo Kutaisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimer Mamuchashvili 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.
Match11 May 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Sala. 3‑1 against Zugdidi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout13 May 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad13 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcel Juszczak and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 3 years.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 90% of everything Torpedo Kutaisi earn
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Felipe Pires has become a man the manager trusts