“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 The request is on a desk at Tskhinvali, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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.
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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Mikheil Mchedlidze 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 Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Jacopo Binotto 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Marton Gazdag in the middle of it, and Merani unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
8.38. 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 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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lasha Janelidze did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Richard Kelly has just signed for Tskhinvali, and for once the answer mattered.
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Lasha Janelidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 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.
6 goals in one match, Marton Gazdag on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tskhinvali and Dila.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Tsitaishvili 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 May 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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.
8.91. 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.
Sioni held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Tskhinvali answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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.
Jacopo Binotto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
9.75. 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.
Squad26 Apr 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Archil Okriashvili provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Avtandil Gvelesiani and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It needed Archil Okriashvili to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Torpedo Kutaisi, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.63 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.67 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
8.04. 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.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Tsitaishvili 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 easiest signature of my career.” Goga Qazaishvili and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Kolkheti will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tskhinvali were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.98 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tskhinvali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.54, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 19 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.
Lasha Janelidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 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.
Squad29 Mar 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 at Tskhinvali 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tskhinvali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1‑4 to Guria, 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.
Jacopo Binotto 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.
Marked 8.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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 at Tskhinvali 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Chikhura the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Tskhinvali will enjoy reviewing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Lasha Janelidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.37
A mark of 8.37 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dachi Abuselidze and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom8 Mar 2038
14 academy players handed senior numbers at Tskhinvali
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aleksandre Kakabadze. 2‑1 against Zugdidi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 19 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.
8.74. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Tsitaishvili 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Tsitaishvili and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tskhinvali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aleksandre Kakabadze and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 at Tskhinvali 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tskhinvali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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. 31 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 easiest signature of my career.” Archil Okriashvili and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Jacopo Binotto 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Sandro Kvaratskhelia 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.
Nobody at Tskhinvali 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 words a physio says slowly. 17 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 season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Tsitaishvili and Tskhinvali agree another 4 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces30 Nov 2037
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
An average of 7.18 in a first team he is several years too young for. Tskhinvali have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
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. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sandro Kvaratskhelia 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. 56 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.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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 season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7.98, 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.
2‑3 to Saburtalo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sandro Kvilitaia provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.17, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Saba Qazaishvili reports back to Tskhinvali with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Tskhinvali know it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The phone has started ringing about Saba Qazaishvili again, and this time the name on the line is Shukura. Tskhinvali are listening politely and promising nothing.
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Mchedlidze did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Levan Mchedlidze 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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
8.22. 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.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 goals in one match, Shota Gvelesiani on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tskhinvali and Sapovnela.
At 19 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.
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sandro Kvilitaia provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dachi Abuselidze and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Mchedlidze did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tskhinvali have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 2‑1 win over Dinamo Batumi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Kolkheti will make the call about Mikheil Mchedlidze this week. Tskhinvali have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Marked 9.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
8.42. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Dachi Abuselidze decided nobody was going anywhere. Shukura had no time left to answer.
A mark of 8.95 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.38 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 Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
322 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aleksandre Kakabadze and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Saba Qazaishvili reports back to Tskhinvali 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marton Gazdag. 2‑1 against Chikhura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tskhinvali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
Sandro Kvilitaia scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Zugdidi, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yimy Gamero 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lasha Janelidze and Tskhinvali agree another 4 years.
The offer from Chikhura for Mikheil Mchedlidze 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 particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sandro Kvilitaia provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Three points for Tskhinvali, 3‑2 the final word against Merani in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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.
At 23 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.
Khvicha Daraselia 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Mchedlidze did not need any: 8.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
27 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Add another name to the list: Kolkheti have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mikheil Mchedlidze. The answer from Tskhinvali has not changed — yet.
The offer from Sioni for Saba Qazaishvili 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.
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
Dinamo Tbilisi will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tskhinvali were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.51 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Mchedlidze did not need any: 8.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Marked 9.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Levan Mchedlidze 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.
In brief
SquadYimy Gamero falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Levan Mchedlidze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 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.
Khvicha Daraselia 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
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.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Tskhinvali know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad20 Apr 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Archil Okriashvili signs something — a contract at Tskhinvali or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Mchedlidze did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
9.14. 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.
Sandro Kvaratskhelia 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. 55 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lasha Arveladze did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.75 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tskhinvali and Shukura in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
Levan Mikautadze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 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.
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.
Jacopo Binotto 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. 69 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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.
At 23 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Guria tried to reorganise, Tskhinvali did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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 Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lasha Janelidze did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Lasha Janelidze 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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yimy Gamero 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 words a physio says slowly. 83 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 Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dato Mikautadze and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
13 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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. Khvicha 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. Nika Kvilitaia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mikheil Gvelesiani 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. Aleksandre Gamsakhurdia 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 words a physio says slowly. 97 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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 season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Samtredia for Mikheil Mchedlidze 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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Merani moved on, Saba Qazaishvili reports back to Tskhinvali, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Yimy Gamero 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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. 32 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 season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.25, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The phone has started ringing about Mikheil Mchedlidze again, and this time the name on the line is Kolkheti. Tskhinvali are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Levan Mchedlidze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“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 Tskhinvali know it.
In brief
SquadYimy Gamero falls out with a teammate over standards
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A season average of 7.25 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“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 Tskhinvali, and it is not being withdrawn.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yimy Gamero 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 words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. Tskhinvali have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 words a physio says slowly. 99 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 Tskhinvali, and it is not being withdrawn.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadYimy Gamero falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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 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. 120 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Mchedlidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tskhinvali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Oct 2036
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili 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 words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadYimy Gamero falls out with a teammate over standards
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Mchedlidze did not need any: 9.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
6 goals in one match, Lasha Janelidze on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tskhinvali and Merani.
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.
9.01. 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 words a physio says slowly. 108 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 Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tornike Gvelesiani and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dato Mikautadze signs something — a contract at Tskhinvali or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Aleksandre Kakabadze 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.
8.27. 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 words a physio says slowly. 122 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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A season average of 7.17 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
“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; Tskhinvali are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Archil Okriashvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sandro Kvilitaia 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Sandro Kvilitaia had Tskhinvali level again within 4 minutes, and Sioni never got to play with a lead at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tskhinvali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Sandro Kvaratskhelia 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.
8.72. 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.
Squad11 Aug 2036
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yimy Gamero 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tskhinvali know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Kolkheti will make the call about Mikheil Mchedlidze this week. Tskhinvali have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Irakli Zivzivadze signs something — a contract at Tskhinvali or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Marton Gazdag