100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout26 Apr 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 1‑3 Guram Kvilitaia left the room before anybody could ask which.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Dinamo Tbilisi next, and one man in the Sapovnela dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A mark of 8.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sapovnela and Lokomotivi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Thiago Souza 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.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela 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 Sapovnela, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sapovnela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Neguete 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sioni were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
He is 19 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.
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Yan 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.
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.
Neguete and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Thiago Souza 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 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 Sapovnela know it.
1‑4 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Thiago Souza 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 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sapovnela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sapovnela can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Neguete 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sapovnela and Dinamo Batumi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Guram Kvilitaia to a room that had heard them before.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Sapovnela dressing room in a hurry
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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout8 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 0‑3 Guram Kvilitaia left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sapovnela can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Neguete and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A last season at home is what Diego Pereira is after
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Souza 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.
Kolkheti next, and one man in the Sapovnela dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sapovnela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Sapovnela know now that the thought has arrived.
Neguete 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Thiago Souza 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 words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Neguete 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Thiago Souza 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. Guram Mikautadze 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saba Qazaishvili 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; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sapovnela have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Sapovnela 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.
Sapovnela asked and Dinamo Batumi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Sapovnela know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zugdidi have kept their man, and Sapovnela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Thiago Souza 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 is 17, and nobody at Sapovnela signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Shukura will make the call about Jaba Janelidze this week. Sapovnela have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sapovnela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Neguete was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotivi have kept their man, and Sapovnela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Jaba Janelidze again, and this time the name on the line is Shukura. Sapovnela are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sapovnela are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“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 Sapovnela know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zugdidi have kept their man, and Sapovnela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lasha Ananidze 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sandro Shugladze, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amiran Tkeshelashvili 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucão has, at Sapovnela, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sapovnela can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Neguete 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
5 new faces, and Sapovnela are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lasha Kvaratskhelia 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.
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.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Luigi Gaspar is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sapovnela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sapovnela would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sapovnela can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sapovnela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Rodriguinho 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.
Neguete 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 Alan Caruaru was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Neguete 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Caruaru is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mikheil Mchedlidze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcelão, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Rodriguinho 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sapovnela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Alan Caruaru 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sídnei has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Rodriguinho on the training pitch
Neguete 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Caruaru 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.
Neguete 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 Oct 2026
Rodriguinho 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.
Something was said to Irakli Rukhadze and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sapovnela will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Caruaru was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lasha Mchedlidze 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Caruaru 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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. 7.99, and 2 involvements.
Neguete 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafael Barros. 3‑1 against Shukura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 17 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.
24 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodriguinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Yan 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Demetre Meparishvili is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Caruaru 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sapovnela are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chikhura were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Neguete and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Caruaru 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sandro Chakvetadze 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sapovnela are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sapovnela are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 32 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Sapovnela 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sapovnela asked and Zugdidi 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sapovnela will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
6 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.
1 for Diego Pereira, marked 7.33, 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sapovnela have done the hard part with Tskhinvali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Neguete 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sapovnela and Merani in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Batumi have kept their man, and Sapovnela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alan Caruaru 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 deal with Tskhinvali 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Caruaru was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0-3, 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 Dinamo Batumi 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rodriguinho has just signed for Sapovnela, and for once the answer mattered.
Sapovnela asked and Zugdidi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Neguete scored, was marked 7.47, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Everything agreed with Samtredia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zugdidi is saying, and nobody at Sapovnela is enjoying the guessing.
Neguete 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 Alan Caruaru was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksandre Kashia 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jaba Janelidze 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. Mikheil Kvaratskhelia 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.
0‑13 against Lokomotivi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 13 goals between Sapovnela and Lokomotivi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Sapovnela asked and Torpedo Kutaisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sandro Shugladze has his answer from Sapovnela; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Sapovnela dressing room in a hurry
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sapovnela, another week without a signature from Alan Caruaru.