“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Merani can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Davit Paghava 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.
Add another name to the list: Spaeri have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aleksandre Avaliani. The answer from Merani has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Lucas Black falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 7.23 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 The request is on a desk at Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Merani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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 Csongor Lakatos 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Levan Tsotsonava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ben Heneghan 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 David Mindombe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Kacper Bielan 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 8 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Davit Paghava 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Black. 1‑0 against Meshakhte Tkibuli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 Merani can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Ben Heneghan 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Levan Tsotsonava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Merani and Spaeri, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani 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 Davit Zurabiani 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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Iberia 1999-2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Merani were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giorgi Tsetskhladze provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Davit Paghava 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 David Mindombe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nika Mikautadze kept it short after the 5‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Position 9 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
7.34, 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.
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.
Davit Paghava 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nika Mikautadze after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ben Heneghan 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Csongor Lakatos, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Lucas Black 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 dugout10 Apr 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 1‑2 Nika Mikautadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Merani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Merani they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
Davit Paghava 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad27 Mar 2028
5 new faces, and Merani 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Merani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Davit Zurabiani’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Merani needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Gonio the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Merani will enjoy reviewing.
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. 7.95, and 2 involvements.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Lucas Black 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Beka Gugberidze 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 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 Merani they have already started talking about him 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.” Merani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Mindombe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Merani know it.
Davit Paghava 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 Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 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 David Mindombe 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Merani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
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.
Nobody at Merani 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.
Position 4, 32 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani 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 Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Merani than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Merani have done the hard part with Iberia 1999, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Davit Paghava 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. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Gagra for Javohir Esonqulov 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.
Everything agreed with Samgurali Tskaltubo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Merani 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Merani would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Merani have done the hard part with Torpedo Kutaisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Merani 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.
Davit Paghava and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Lucas Black 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
7 new faces, and Merani 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.
Samgurali Tskaltubo 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Levan Tsotsonava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Mindombe 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 Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Samgurali Tskaltubo for Davit Zurabiani 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.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Mindombe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ben Heneghan 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lucas Black 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Niklas Determann 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Lucas Black 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Merani can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani 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.
Something was said to Davit Zurabiani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Sergi Bazerashvili is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani 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. Levan Tsotsonava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
Davit Paghava 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 Merani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Niklas Determann will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Merani, another week without a signature from Niklas Determann.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Niklas Determann 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 David Mindombe 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.
5 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.
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. Merani will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
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.
Štěpán Hapal 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Merani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Black 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 Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Merani know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niklas Determann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Merani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Merani can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Niklas Determann 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Merani this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Niklas Determann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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 Merani, another week without a signature from Niklas Determann.
Lucas Black 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.
Davit Paghava 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Merani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutRoland Djobava has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Merani 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.
Štěpán Hapal 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
6 new faces, and Merani 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.
Nobody at Merani 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Merani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Niklas Determann 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $7.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
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.
In brief
The dugoutBakar Laghadze has become a man the manager trusts
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black 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 Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mateo Stamatov has moved up it.
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 Levi is on it.
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Merani know which stage they are at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Merani 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Merani were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and Merani 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.
Lekso Kvelaidze is 18, and Merani 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 Khazbulat Khamkhoev is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Merani they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Davit Paghava is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Niklas Determann has agreed terms with Gareji Sagarejo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Niklas Determann and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Lucas Black 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $6.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Merani 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.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Niklas Determann 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.
Merani offered $700.00; Rustavi said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Merani can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
Merani asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
Merani have made the call to Torpedo Kutaisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Samgurali Tskaltubo 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.
Merani have made the call to Gareji Sagarejo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Javohir Esonqulov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Levan Tsotsonava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Niklas Determann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Black 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 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Tsulaia knocks on the manager's door
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Merani have done the hard part with Torpedo Kutaisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Mindombe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Merani asked and Samgurali Tskaltubo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Ruslan Askerov 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zviad Sikharulia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The deal with Gareji Sagarejo 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
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.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Merani have made the call to Dinamo Tbilisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Merani this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Merani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Merani have done the hard part with Kolkheti-1913 Poti, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Samgurali Tskaltubo paid $110.0K and Merani took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Lucas Black 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Batumi have kept their man, and Merani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Levan Tsotsonava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
The deal that would have taken Nodar Kavtaradze to Samgurali Tskaltubo has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Merani with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Niklas Determann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
A loan enquiry to Torpedo Kutaisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Dinamo Tbilisi; Merani go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Niklas Determann 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 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 4 on 32 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Merani have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Dila for Javohir Esonqulov 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Merani know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Batumi have kept their man, and Merani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Tbilisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Sori Mané is in the works
He laid on 7 and scored none, and would have been mildly offended to be asked why. The scorers get the headlines; the man who made them gets the respect of everybody who understood the match.
14 goals in one match, Javohir Esonqulov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Merani and Dinamo Tbilisi-2.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.35 for the rest of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Torpedo Kutaisi keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Niklas Determann 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kolkheti-1913 Poti have kept their man, and Merani 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The deal with Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Davit Zurabiani on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Merani and Iberia 1999.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 for Jafar Bynoe, marked 7.79, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑1 draw with Meshakhte Tkibuli leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nika Mikautadze chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Mindombe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.91, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Merani now.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jafar Bynoe 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Niklas Determann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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 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 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 dugout17 May 2027
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 0‑4 Nika Mikautadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
In brief
The dugoutBakar Laghadze has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad10 May 2027
Lucas Black falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 18 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.
Position 4, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani 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. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Merani can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
10 goals in one match, Niklas Determann on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Merani and Iberia 1999-2.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Niklas Determann 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Niklas Determann 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Merani and Dinamo Tbilisi-2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Merani has been clear about where Bakar Laghadze stands, which is more than many ever get.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Javohir Esonqulov had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Iberia 1999 were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Merani can pretend not to have heard.
At 21 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.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 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 Merani 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.” Merani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Niklas Determann 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 Doueugui Mala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
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.
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.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Mindombe 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.
Marked 7.60. 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Nika Mikautadze, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javohir Esonqulov provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Merani can pretend not to have heard.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jafar Bynoe has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Merani can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Merani know it.
Niklas Determann 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Niklas Determann 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Merani training over how hard people work
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doueugui Mala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Merani 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jafar Bynoe has, at Merani, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Merani 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aslan Mutaliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jafar Bynoe arrives at Merani with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Kolkheti-1913 Poti 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.
Merani have gone to Lokomotivi 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.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Merani lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deal with Rustavi 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kolkheti-1913 Poti keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Merani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Merani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Lokomotivi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Merani asked and Iberia 1999 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Torpedo Kutaisi will make the call about Nodar Kavtaradze this week. Merani have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 Khazbulat Khamkhoev is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Niklas Determann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Mindombe is living that version at Merani, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotivi have kept their man, and Merani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Torpedo Kutaisi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nodar Kavtaradze. The answer from Merani has not changed — yet.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luka Tsulaia has his answer from Merani; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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; Merani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Merani 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. 86 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 Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Merani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black 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 Merani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Black 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Zviad Sikharulia 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 Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luka Tsulaia
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Merani know it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Black 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Davit Khelaia 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Merani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Black 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Davit Khelaia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Merani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
The dugoutDavit Khelaia knocks on the manager’s door
11Edition
The Merani Sentinel
12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lucas Black 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Merani is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani 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 Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Boardroom417% of the income goes out in wages at Merani
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lucas Black 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Merani training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lucas Black 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.
12 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.
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 Khazbulat Khamkhoev is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Merani will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aslan Mutaliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani, and it is not being withdrawn.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Merani have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 21 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Merani 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.
Merani had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Batumi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Giorgi Kvirkvelia is living that version at Merani, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Black was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Merani know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Merani, another week without a signature from Lucas Black.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Merani and Dinamo Batumi have settled on $14.0K. 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Merani have done the hard part with Sioni, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$27.0K was the most the club would pay and Dila 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Batumi have kept their man, and Merani 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.
A new face in his position, and Davit Zurabiani suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Merani have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
In brief
The dugoutDavit Khelaia asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Merani 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 Merani can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $27.8K — a club that wants Ruben Compaoré enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Dila this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newell's Old Boys have kept their man, and Merani 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.
Davit Paghava 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $25.3K — a club that wants Giorgi Gogsadze enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Iberia 1999 this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Merani asked and Kolkheti-1913 Poti said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nika Mikautadze after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Merani are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Merani had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Torpedo Kutaisi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Zviad Sikharulia 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.
$61.0K was the most the club would pay and Iberia 1999 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.
Merani asked and Iberia 1999 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Kakha Gvelesiani 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tornike 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. Archil Chakvetadze 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zviad Sikharulia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lasha Chaladze 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
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. Merani will not keep him by pretending otherwise.