Torpedo Kutaisi close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 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 offer from Samtredia for Demetre Buliskeria was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bragantino keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Torpedo Kutaisi have made the call to CSKA Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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 Torpedo Kutaisi would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Felipe Pires was one of the reasons people came, and $1.4M does not replace that by itself.
Nodar Lominadze 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. Dinamo Stavropol have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Guria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He is going to Dinamo Tbilisi, the club has $1.3M 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi pay $1.3M, 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hamrun Spartans have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dinamo Stavropol 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi have made the call to Chornomorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all 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 Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Dila for Diego Deisadze was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Torpedo Kutaisi will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Radnik Surdulica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Torpedo Kutaisi have made the call to Hamrun Spartans. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Dinamo Tbilisi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Torpedo Kutaisi have made the call to Corinthians. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutKomnen Andrić has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo Kutaisi can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Giorgi Kokhreidze 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.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
Torpedo Kutaisi asked and Shakhtar 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 phone has started ringing about Demetre Buliskeria again, and this time the name on the line is Guria. Torpedo Kutaisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Felipe Pires is on it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kisley Zita has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nodar Lominadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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 Matej Šimić is on it.
25 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Glib Katkov and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Torpedo Kutaisi have no good answer.
3 goals in 9 games at Kolkheti — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Torpedo Kutaisi updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutGlib Katkov knocks on the manager's door
1 for Vladimer Mamuchashvili, marked 7.83, 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Kokhreidze and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 4 years.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Nodar Lominadze 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Diego Deisadze is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vladimer Mamuchashvili is on 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nodar Lominadze signs something — a contract at Torpedo Kutaisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Torpedo Kutaisi that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Kutaisi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Kisley Zita’s exile
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Nodar Lominadze 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 easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Cherif and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Cherif and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 4 years.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Kutaisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Torpedo Kutaisi than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
1‑0 against De Graafschap, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vladimer Mamuchashvili is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Cherif will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Felipe Pires signs something — a contract at Torpedo Kutaisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
9 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Torpedo Kutaisi would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Torpedo Kutaisi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
It involved Nodar Lominadze, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Torpedo Kutaisi have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Kolkheti leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Sori Mané's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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 Komnen Andrić is on it.
1‑4. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladimer Mamuchashvili provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Cherif will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo Kutaisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Viking; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Guria will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo Kutaisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match9 Sep 2026
Mateo Itrak wins it after the whistle should have gone
121 minutes played. Mateo Itrak found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Dila went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Mateo Itrak takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Itrak provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruzeiro have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8.28. 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.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 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 Torpedo Kutaisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Torpedo Kutaisi close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 3 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: APOEL keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nodar Lominadze 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 everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Komnen Andrić takes the afternoon — 9.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Komnen Andrić provided it, and the 9.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Giorgi Kokhreidze reports back to Torpedo Kutaisi with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo Kutaisi 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. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giorgi Arabidze provided it, and the 9.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Felipe Pires takes the afternoon — 9.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Felipe Pires provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The offer from Dinamo Batumi for Giorgi Kokhreidze was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mohamed Cherif 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Santa Cruz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nodar Lominadze 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.
9 goals in one match, Komnen Andrić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Torpedo Kutaisi and Zugdidi.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Tbilisi had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tskhinvali is saying, and nobody at Torpedo Kutaisi is enjoying the guessing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nodar Lominadze and Torpedo Kutaisi agree another 4 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 Torpedo Kutaisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Dinamo Tbilisi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tornike Kiteishvili 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. Vakhtang Gamsakhurdia 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Komnen Andrić at his very best
Tskhinvali will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo Kutaisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Nodar Lominadze 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. Basaksehir have kept their man, and Torpedo Kutaisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8.06. 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.