“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luizinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedro Souto is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
4‑1. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Position 2 with 38 on the board, and the queues outside the ticket office are the part of a promotion push that never shows up in a table. The town has decided this one is real.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Pedrinho 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.
He is 20 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Qazhymūqan Tölepbergen 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luizinho 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Dinamo Tbilisi will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Qazhymūqan Tölepbergen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
2‑3 away to the standard of Lyngby. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kalani Almeida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
11 combined actions and 7.00. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
In brief
SquadWords at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Paata Ghudushauri is on it.
Glib Katkov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Tbilisi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paata Ghudushauri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Pedrinho 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
0‑3. OGC Nice play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luizinho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luizinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Luka Tsulaia is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
5 new faces, and Dinamo Tbilisi are still learning each other
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gonzalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑1 against Turan Tovuz. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luka Tsulaia and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 4 years.
Pedrinho 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Shota Apridonidze has, at Dinamo Tbilisi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and BSK Bijelo Brdo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kalani Almeida is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $76.1K of what Dinamo Tbilisi paid for Lasha Ugrekhelidze is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Merani for Nicolas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Dinamo Tbilisi close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 26 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Meshakhte Tkibuli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Lokomotivi for Glib Katkov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Avtandil Gamsakhurdia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Dinamo Tbilisi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Meshakhte Tkibuli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Pedrinho 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lazare Kupatadze has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dinamo Tbilisi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
In brief
SquadWords at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luka Tsulukidze 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sogdiana have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dinamo Tbilisi know it.
In brief
The dugoutJean Carlos is still being punished for one mistake
Transfer targetsA loan move for Levan Shovnadze is in the works
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Glib Katkov 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Batumi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paata Ghudushauri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Pedrinho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Huancayo have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Meshakhte Tkibuli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Sioni have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Algassime Bah. The answer from Dinamo Tbilisi has not changed — yet.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Avtandil Gamsakhurdia again, and this time the name on the line is Gonio. Dinamo Tbilisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luizinho 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.
“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.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
Jean Carlos is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Numan Kurdić has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dinamo Batumi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Egnatia Rrogozhinë have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Lokomotivi for Algassime Bah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Luka Tsulukidze 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Batumi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kolkheti-1913 Poti will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Tbilisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
36 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Meshakhte Tkibuli had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Iberia 1999 for Luiz Fabiano was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
A brace, and Nikoloz Ninua takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikoloz Ninua provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Shota Diakonidze has gone, the accounts have $520.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The name of Algassime Bah has come up in conversations Dinamo Tbilisi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tite has agreed terms with Iberia 1999 for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Iberia 1999 paid $520.0K and Dinamo Tbilisi took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikoloz Ninua. 3‑1 against Iberia 1999, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Samgurali Tskaltubo will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Tbilisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Sioni go through and Dinamo Tbilisi go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gagra held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Dinamo Tbilisi answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pedrinho provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Pedrinho 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Pedro Souto 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 helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Torpedo Kutaisi tried to reorganise, Dinamo Tbilisi did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Makatsaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Souto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tengo Gobeshia has his answer from Dinamo Tbilisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Souto 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Pedrinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Souto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Gareji Sagarejo; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Dinamo Tbilisi had all but put away. Gareji Sagarejo will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Andro Giorgadze 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lyes Houri. 2‑1 against Kolkheti-1913 Poti, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Gareji Sagarejo next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Pedrinho at his very best
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Souto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iyed Haj Khalifa. 2‑0 against Iberia 1999, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Pedrinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
In brief
SquadA muscle injury sidelines Nikoloz Ninua for 14 days
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lyes Houri
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
An order from above at Dinamo Tbilisi: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Souto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dinamo Tbilisi has been clear about where Roman Pliushch stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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.” Davit Chakvetadze, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Souto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Souto 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Spaeri, and it could have been more.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A brace, and Algassime Bah takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Algassime Bah provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.89, and 2 involvements.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dato Lobjanidze has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saba Tsitaishvili has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lasha Mchedlidze has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
SquadWords at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Nikoloz Ninua at his very best
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Souto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Giorgi Kharebashvili before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
In brief
The dugoutParis Psaltis has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Makatsaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Pedrinho 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Pedro Souto 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mikheil Makatsaria has his answer from Dinamo Tbilisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Giorgi Kharebashvili before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Dinamo Tbilisi would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Grêmio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Dinamo Tbilisi will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dinamo Tbilisi, another week without a signature from Lyes Houri.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Torpedo Kutaisi for Mikheil Makatsaria was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $233.5K of what Dinamo Tbilisi paid for Claude Kouakou is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Welton Júnior to Meshakhte Tkibuli has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Dinamo Tbilisi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Dinamo Tbilisi until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pedro Souto commits to Dinamo Tbilisi for another 4 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Pedro Souto 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.
Paulinho 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dinamo Tbilisi have done the hard part with Torpedo Kutaisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The fee is $570.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dinamo Batumi drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Corinthians is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces29 Jan 2029
Dinamo Tbilisi spend $570.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $570.0K for Gonzalo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paris Psaltis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Baranhas has, at Dinamo Tbilisi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kolkheti-1913 Poti is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
Luka Tsulukidze 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Torpedo Kutaisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sioni waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $8.8K of what Dinamo Tbilisi paid for Tornike Megrelishvili is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Žan Luka Šega has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dinamo Tbilisi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Iberia 1999 have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Giorgi Kharebashvili before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spaeri waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Gareji Sagarejo for Mikheil Makatsaria was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spaeri have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Giorgi Kharebashvili before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Dinamo Tbilisi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tengo Gobeshia 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Giorgi Gvasalia has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Roman Pliushch's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Welton Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Santiago Paiva 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.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Giorgi Gvasalia 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Gvasalia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Dinamo Tbilisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgi Gvasalia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Tbilisi had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Algassime Bah 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Gvasalia 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.
18 games, 7 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Dinamo Tbilisi now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Lokomotivi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Dinamo Tbilisi and fight for my place.” 13 appearances in 43 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Dinamo Tbilisi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutPedro Souto knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutParis Psaltis has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Dinamo Tbilisi would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
20 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from José Luis Rodríguez’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know 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 Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Santiago Paiva 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dinamo Tbilisi, another week without a signature from Aleksandre Kalandadze.
“I watch every Dinamo Tbilisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gonio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Dinamo Tbilisi, and 13 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giorgi Kharaishvili is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Dinamo Tbilisi the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
“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; Dinamo Tbilisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Welton Júnior is on it.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Karen Nalbandyan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Dinamo Tbilisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I watch every Dinamo Tbilisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gonio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and José Luis Rodríguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Something was said to Giorgi Kharaishvili and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nikoloz Ninua is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Thiago Rodrigues 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
BoardroomDinamo Tbilisi sign a deal worth $704.7K a year
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adriel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
BoardroomThe Dinamo Tbilisi production line keeps running
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Jean Carlos
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
7 goals in 18 games at Rustavi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Dinamo Tbilisi updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Welton Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Dinamo Tbilisi close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Tbilisi can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Tengo Gobeshia 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgi Kharaishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“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; Dinamo Tbilisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giorgi Kharaishvili is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dinamo Tbilisi know it.
Glib Katkov is 19, and Dinamo Tbilisi have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Welton Júnior is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gonio waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: Gonio have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicolas. The answer from Dinamo Tbilisi has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Dinamo Tbilisi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
$3.4M was the most the club would pay and Blackpool were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Santiago Paiva 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dinamo Tbilisi have gone to Blackpool 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgi Kharaishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Santiago Paiva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Wanderson again, and this time the name on the line is Sioni. Dinamo Tbilisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luisinho, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Roman Pliushch's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gonio waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1 for Nikoloz Ninua, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Santiago Paiva 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Minute 86, against Iberia 1999, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
6 new faces, and Dinamo Tbilisi are still learning each other
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Dinamo Tbilisi have paid $4.0M for Pedro Souto, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The terraces3 Jul 2028
Dinamo Tbilisi spend $4.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $4.0M for Pedro Souto, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Dinamo Tbilisi and Temperley have settled on $4.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kolkheti-1913 Poti will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Andria Bartishvili has pre-agreed a move to Dinamo Tbilisi, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Luizinho is 20, and Dinamo Tbilisi have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Tbilisi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Spaeri is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Grêmio is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Cruzeiro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Luisinho 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.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Davit Chakvetadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Dinamo Tbilisi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spaeri waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Santiago Paiva 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 chase for Lasha Ugrekhelidze ended with $110.0K changing hands and Gagra out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kalani Almeida obliged against Sioni. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Dinamo Tbilisi.
Dinamo Tbilisi and Dinamo Batumi have settled on $3.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Paiva provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.61, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Dinamo Tbilisi had all but put away. Samgurali Tskaltubo will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A 1‑1 draw with Samgurali Tskaltubo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Davit Chakvetadze was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Dinamo Tbilisi dressing room was either.
In brief
Looking aheadDinamo Tbilisi take on the side everybody is chasing
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luiz Fabiano and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Davit Chakvetadze after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Pliushch, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugout15 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Davit Chakvetadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Kolkheti-1913 Poti next, and one man in the Dinamo Tbilisi dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Dinamo Tbilisi and Dila in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Dinamo Tbilisi can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Paiva provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Davit Chakvetadze to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dila in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Santiago Paiva 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Santiago Paiva in the middle of it, and Torpedo Kutaisi unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Anton Hlushchenko 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 7.68. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.” Davit Chakvetadze, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paata Ghudushauri and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Irakli Azarovi 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.
6 goals in one match, Iyed Haj Khalifa on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Dinamo Tbilisi and Dinamo Batumi.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Algassime Bah has his answer from Dinamo Tbilisi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Léo Santos is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Batumi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Mikheil Makatsaria has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Davit Chakvetadze to a room that had heard them before.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Paiva provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mate Ghaghvishvili has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Irakli Azarovi 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Dinamo Tbilisi
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Paiva. 3‑2 against Kolkheti-1913 Poti, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Jesus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Santiago Paiva 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.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Thiago Rodrigues has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dinamo Tbilisi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutParis Psaltis has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Welton Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Irakli Azarovi 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Adriel has, at Dinamo Tbilisi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Dinamo Tbilisi will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Dinamo Tbilisi close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Irakli Azarovi 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Ceará said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Paulinho has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Feb 2028
7 new faces, and Dinamo Tbilisi are still learning each other
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chase for Luiz Fabiano ended with $360.0K changing hands and Iberia 1999 out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vasco da Gama have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Dinamo Tbilisi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The deal with Novorizontino is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vasco da Gama is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
Algassime Bah 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.
Add another name to the list: Meshakhte Tkibuli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Welton Júnior. The answer from Dinamo Tbilisi has not changed — yet.
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Dinamo Batumi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal that would have taken Giorgi Gvasalia to Lokomotivi has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Dinamo Tbilisi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Torpedo Kutaisi paid $560.0K and Dinamo Tbilisi took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. São Paulo have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Irakli Azarovi 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.
Vasco da Gama have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dinamo Tbilisi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The phone has started ringing about Tite again, and this time the name on the line is Rustavi. Dinamo Tbilisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iyed Haj Khalifa 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi have made the call to Dila. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Tbilisi had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Jesus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Spaeri have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Giorgi Gvasalia. The answer from Dinamo Tbilisi has not changed — yet.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Jean Carlos 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Gvasalia 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.
43 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The new man at Dinamo Tbilisi has worked with Nikoloz Ninua before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Jean Carlos 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iyed Haj Khalifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.