“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 The request is on a desk at Spaeri, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Spaeri have done the hard part with Temperley, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Guram Kashia 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Camarda 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. Ilirija 1911 have kept their man, and Spaeri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Spaeri will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Spaeri has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Spaeri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Spaeri 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Spaeri will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spaeri, another week without a signature from Samuel Michels.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spaeri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Darlan has just signed for Spaeri, and for once the answer mattered.
Spaeri had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Tbilisi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spaeri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spaeri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spaeri 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 Spaeri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Guram Kashia 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.
Everybody at Spaeri saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 39 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Guram Kashia 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 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.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spaeri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spaeri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spaeri 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 Spaeri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
“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; Spaeri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Guram Kashia 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 words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spaeri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Guram Kashia 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.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spaeri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spaeri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tamaz Tsetskhladze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spaeri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spaeri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spaeri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spaeri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spaeri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Spaeri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Guram Kashia 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spaeri, another week without a signature from Tamaz Tsetskhladze.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spaeri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spaeri will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Guram Kashia 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ed Carlos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spaeri will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tamaz Tsetskhladze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spaeri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spaeri will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Spaeri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spaeri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spaeri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Guram Kashia 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 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 Spaeri know it.
Guram Kashia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spaeri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Camarda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Guilherme Beléa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ed Carlos 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
25 new faces, and Spaeri 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.
Guram Kashia 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Camarda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Spaeri know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Spaeri has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spaeri people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ed Carlos has, at Spaeri, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Spaeri close the window on a squad of their own making
35 in and 17 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.
Guram Kashia 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 Ed Carlos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tamaz Tsetskhladze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spaeri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Spaeri, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Júnior Xingu again, and this time the name on the line is Akron. Spaeri are listening politely and promising nothing.
Guram Kashia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadson 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.
Out, 0‑3 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Spaeri have done the hard part with Temperley, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spaeri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marcos Camarda was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $240.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Colón have kept their man, and Spaeri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Henrique 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bruno Oliveira has just signed for Spaeri, and for once the answer mattered.
Torpedo Kutaisi wanted more than $770.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The offer went to Santiago Wanderers this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Guram Kashia 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Giorgi Pirtakhia is a Spaeri player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Spaeri know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nadson is living that version at Spaeri, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer went to Torpedo Kutaisi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $884.6K — a club that wants Mohamed Cherif enough to be asked twice.
Guram Kashia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Spaeri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadson 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Khvicha Arveladze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vakhtang Chakvetadze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spaeri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tamaz Tsetskhladze has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Spaeri asked and Olimpija Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Giga Samkharadze 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Lasha Kokhreidze’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Spaeri would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.