Eric Barrios 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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Alexandr Timchenko's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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 Samtredia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Samtredia is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Samtredia has been clear about where Japhet Matondo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Alexandr Timchenko 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
Julen Cordero 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Samtredia, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
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 Vitinho is on it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Samtredia would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Samtredia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eric Barrios 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 Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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. $9.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
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.
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.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Samtredia can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Eric Barrios 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.
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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Eric Barrios loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Eric Barrios's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
In brief
The dugoutOtar Gagnidze asks for a word with the manager
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia 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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Samtredia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Eric Barrios 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
Julen Cordero 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. $9.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Samtredia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and Samtredia 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.
He is 18, and nobody at Samtredia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
He is 20, and nobody at Samtredia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vakhtang Tsitaishvili has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 8 and 22 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Samtredia close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 15 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Eric Barrios 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 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 Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Samtredia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 231% of the Samtredia income
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Samtredia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Julen Cordero 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 name of Julen Cordero has come up in conversations Samtredia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Eric Barrios 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
Julen Cordero 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.
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.
Nobody at Samtredia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Samtredia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Samtredia know which stage they are at.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Samtredia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Samtredia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samtredia 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. $7.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
A loan enquiry to Samgurali Tskaltubo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Julen Cordero is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Gharib's mistake
Position 8 and 22 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.
The offer from Torpedo Kutaisi for Julen Cordero was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Samtredia have done the hard part with Samgurali Tskaltubo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Eric Barrios 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Julen Cordero 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 Tbilisi have kept their man, and Samtredia 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.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
The mood at Samtredia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eric Barrios 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
Julen Cordero 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. Torpedo Kutaisi have kept their man, and Samtredia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Nobody at Samtredia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Samtredia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Samtredia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
Eric Barrios and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
Samtredia 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.
“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 Samtredia know it.
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.
Nobody at Samtredia 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Samtredia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The deal with Gagra 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 Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Samtredia training over how hard people work
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Samtredia can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Samtredia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Samtredia and Meshakhte Tkibuli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The name of Ruben Gauto has come up in conversations Samtredia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Dinamo Tbilisi-2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 14‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Samtredia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Gagra for Eric Barrios 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A brace, and Giorgi Vekua takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giorgi Vekua provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Samtredia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eric Barrios 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 finished 3‑2, and it was Julen Cordero’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Samtredia.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Julen Cordero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The name of Zurab Gigashvili has come up in conversations Samtredia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.80, 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.
Eric Barrios 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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samtredia 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. João Assunção 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vakhtang Tsitaishvili has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Meshakhte Tkibuli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Samtredia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 8 and 9 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Samtredia know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Eric Barrios 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Samtredia now.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 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 1‑2 Vakhtang Tsitaishvili left the room before anybody could ask which.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 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 Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
Eric Barrios 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.
Julen Cordero scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Spaeri, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Vekua 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 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 Samtredia know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vakhtang Tsitaishvili after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero 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 Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samtredia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Position 8, 8 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Tsotne Chikovani is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samtredia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Minute 90, against Meshakhte Tkibuli, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tsotne Chikovani, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 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.” Vakhtang Tsitaishvili chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutGiorgi Vekua asks for a word with the manager
Looking aheadA test against the best for Samtredia
“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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.87 for the rest of it.
Eric Barrios 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Vekua is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gharib. 2‑0 against Dinamo Tbilisi-2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vakhtang Tsitaishvili on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Eric Barrios and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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 Samtredia know it.
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 new faces, and Samtredia 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.
Eric Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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; Samtredia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Iberia 1999-2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 9‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Samtredia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Otar Gagnidze obliged against Gonio. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Samtredia.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dimitri Ghurtskaia provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Davit Samurkasovi provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Giorgi Vekua for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Samtredia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Eric Barrios 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tamaz Makatsaria provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Samtredia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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.
Tony 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 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vakhtang Tsitaishvili after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samtredia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Vekua was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Merani, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Mar 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 0‑1 Vakhtang Tsitaishvili left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Samtredia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Davit Samurkasovi scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Mchedlishvili and Samtredia agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
“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; Samtredia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Irakli Shengelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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; Samtredia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Eric Barrios 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tornike Jangidze is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Eric Barrios 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.
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tony 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.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Suško knocks on the manager’s door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad15 Feb 2027
7 new faces, and Samtredia 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Samtredia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vitinho has just signed for Samtredia, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia 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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19, and nobody at Samtredia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
That is the business done at Samtredia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alemão 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
Eric Barrios 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 offer from Dila for Giorgi Mchedlishvili 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.
Eric Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
The offer from Dinamo Batumi for Julen Cordero was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Spaeri had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Samtredia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Samtredia training over how hard people work
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.
Eric Barrios was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Add another name to the list: Spaeri have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raul Baratelia. The answer from Samtredia has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samtredia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Vekua 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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tsotne Chikovani has his answer from Samtredia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giorgi Mchedlishvili signs something — a contract at Samtredia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Samtredia enter the window
Eric Barrios and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Japhet Matondo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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.
Japhet Matondo 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.
20Edition
The Samtredia Chronicle
14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Giorgi Vekua falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Through a full week of training without a reaction, and already asking for a place. Samtredia will be careful with him and he will resent every day of it.
Eric Barrios was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Julen Cordero 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 programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
Eric Barrios 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri Ghurtskaia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Vekua 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 Samtredia 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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Samtredia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Eric Barrios 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tony 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgi Rekhviashvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Rekhviashvili and Samtredia agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Vekua 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.
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Samtredia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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.
Everybody at Samtredia saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Eric Barrios 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 Giorgi Vekua was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Samtredia 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.
Eric Barrios and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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.
Eric Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri Ghurtskaia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samtredia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Vekua 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. Samtredia were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Samtredia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rustavi is saying, and nobody at Samtredia is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Cordero 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Samtredia 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.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Suško knocks on the manager’s door
Samtredia close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sioni keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Julen Cordero 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. Telavi have kept their man, and Samtredia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is going to Gagra, the club has $250.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Gagra pay $250.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Giorgi Vekua 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 offer from Iberia 1999 for Julen Cordero 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samtredia 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 Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 Vakhtang Tsitaishvili left the room before anybody could ask which.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Eric Barrios 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.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The offer from Kolkheti-1913 Poti for Davit Samurkasovi 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alemão is living that version at Samtredia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Samtredia asked and Telavi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Giorgi Vekua falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vakhtang Qazaishvili 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 easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Mchedlishvili and Samtredia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Tamaz Makatsaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Barrios 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; Samtredia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Samtredia, another week without a signature from Giorgi Mchedlishvili.