From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 May 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match14 May 2033
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑3 beating by Torpedo Kutaisi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market16 May 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Match14 May 2033
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout16 May 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 May 2033
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 May 2033
No clean sheets in sight for Zugdidi
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The dugout16 May 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bachana Chakvetadze, and the manager let it.
Boardroom16 May 2033
Nobody left the Zugdidi dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 May 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 May 2033
A muscle injury sidelines Temur Qazaishvili for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Zugdidi will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market9 May 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 May 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 May 2033
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 May 2033
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad9 May 2033
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 May 2033
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad9 May 2033
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Boakye 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 May 2033
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match30 Apr 2033
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 May 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout2 May 2033
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings2 May 2033
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout2 May 2033
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 May 2033
Daniel Boakye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout2 May 2033
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Market2 May 2033
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Daniel Tavares has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zugdidi.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings25 Apr 2033
Marked 7.65 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market25 Apr 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match23 Apr 2033
Shukura left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad25 Apr 2033
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Archil Gvelesiani, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad25 Apr 2033
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachana Janelidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
Sandro Daraselia dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Apr 2033
Guria will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zugdidi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings18 Apr 2033
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings18 Apr 2033
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khvicha Lobjanidze did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market18 Apr 2033
“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.
The dugout18 Apr 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad18 Apr 2033
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Apr 2033
Daniel Boakye among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Daniel Boakye on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zugdidi and Guria.
Player ratings18 Apr 2033
Goga Arveladze was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.95. 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 terraces18 Apr 2033
At 18 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Apr 2033
Jaba Kvaratskhelia damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
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.
Match6 Apr 2033
Zugdidi bow out of the cup
Dinamo Batumi go through and Zugdidi go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad11 Apr 2033
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings11 Apr 2033
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khvicha Lobjanidze did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market11 Apr 2033
“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.
Market11 Apr 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bachana Mikautadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Apr 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Jaba Janelidze falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout11 Apr 2033
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Apr 2033
Jaba Kvaratskhelia damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
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.
Match2 Apr 2033
Beaten 0‑3 by Dila, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad4 Apr 2033
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad4 Apr 2033
Jaba Janelidze falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout4 Apr 2033
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
Doors closed at Zugdidi
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout4 Apr 2033
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad4 Apr 2033
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Khvicha Lobjanidze is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Apr 2033
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Mar 2033
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings28 Mar 2033
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market28 Mar 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Mar 2033
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Mar 2033
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 terraces28 Mar 2033
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Khvicha Lobjanidze 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.
Match26 Mar 2033
A 1‑0 win over Merani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
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Player ratings28 Mar 2033
Marked 8.17 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Mar 2033
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Mar 2033
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market21 Mar 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Mar 2033
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout21 Mar 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 Mar 2033
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Daniel Boakye 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.
Match19 Mar 2033
A 1‑1 draw with Saburtalo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Mar 2033
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.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Mar 2033
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑6 beating by Dinamo Tbilisi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market14 Mar 2033
“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.
Market14 Mar 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Mar 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Mar 2033
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Zugdidi and Dinamo Tbilisi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
Doors closed at Zugdidi
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Mar 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad7 Mar 2033
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.
Market7 Mar 2033
“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.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
8 academy graduates step up at Zugdidi
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad7 Mar 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bachana Chakvetadze commits to Zugdidi for another 2 years.
Match5 Mar 2033
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Mar 2033
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market7 Mar 2033
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jaba Gvelesiani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2033
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Feb 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout28 Feb 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Feb 2033
Daniel Boakye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
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 Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Feb 2033
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Feb 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 Feb 2033
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikheil Kvaratskhelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Bachana Janelidze falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom21 Feb 2033
The Zugdidi production line keeps running
67 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Feb 2033
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout14 Feb 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zugdidi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Feb 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bachana Mikautadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Feb 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2033
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zugdidi will try again when the window opens; Dinamo Tbilisi may not be selling by then.
Market14 Feb 2033
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad14 Feb 2033
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Boakye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Feb 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jaba Janelidze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 Feb 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bachana Mikautadze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Feb 2033
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2033
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Torpedo Kutaisi keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Zugdidi until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Feb 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Temur Qazaishvili commits to Zugdidi for another 2 years.
Squad7 Feb 2033
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad7 Feb 2033
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Market7 Feb 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mamuka Chakvetadze 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.
Market7 Feb 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jaba Gvelesiani 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.
Market7 Feb 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bachana Lobjanidze 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2033
The clubs have shaken hands with Torpedo Kutaisi; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market31 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Jan 2033
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
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Squad31 Jan 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Khvicha Daraselia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2033
A loan enquiry to Dila: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2033
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Jan 2033
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2033
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zugdidi have done the hard part with Dinamo Tbilisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout24 Jan 2033
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Jan 2033
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2033
Zugdidi asked and Dila said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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 dugout24 Jan 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikheil Kvaratskhelia, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jan 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Goga Kiteishvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2033
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sapovnela waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2033
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zugdidi have done the hard part with Dila, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market17 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Jan 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2033
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Jan 2033
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Avtandil Kvaratskhelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
The dugout17 Jan 2033
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad17 Jan 2033
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Dila; Zugdidi go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
No thanks: Ruben Gauto rejects the move
Zugdidi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Samtredia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Jan 2033
At 21, Khvicha Lobjanidze is already the best thing here
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. Zugdidi have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
A loan enquiry to Dila: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Bachana Janelidze 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.
Market10 Jan 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jaba Janelidze signs something — a contract at Zugdidi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jan 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Market3 Jan 2033
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2033
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout3 Jan 2033
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Transfer targets3 Jan 2033
A loan move for Ruben Gauto is in the works
Zugdidi have made the call to Samtredia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Squad3 Jan 2033
Daniel Tavares 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
Zugdidi can sign again
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bachana Mikautadze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2032
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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 dugout27 Dec 2032
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout27 Dec 2032
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Squad27 Dec 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2032
Zugdidi keep producing them
63 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Dec 2032
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Dec 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Dec 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2032
Bachana Janelidze falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Dec 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Dec 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze signs something — a contract at Zugdidi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout13 Dec 2032
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2032
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad13 Dec 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tornike Daraselia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Daniel Tavares 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.
Market13 Dec 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jaba Janelidze signs something — a contract at Zugdidi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout6 Dec 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout6 Dec 2032
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Daniel Tavares falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout6 Dec 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Nov 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Willian Teixeira, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Bachana Janelidze falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
Goga Kiteishvili asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market29 Nov 2032
Zugdidi have made Bachana Mikautadze available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
The Zugdidi academy earns its keep
63 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Questions about Otar Arveladze on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Archil Gamsakhurdia plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout22 Nov 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zugdidi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market22 Nov 2032
“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.
Market22 Nov 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bachana Mikautadze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Daniel Tavares 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2032
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaba Shengelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 Nov 2032
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2032
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zugdidi will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad8 Nov 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaba Janelidze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout8 Nov 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 Nov 2032
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Avtandil Tsitaishvili, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Nov 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sandro Kiteishvili commits to Zugdidi for another 3 years.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bachana Ananidze, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Daniel Tavares falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sandro Kiteishvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout25 Oct 2032
Bachana Ananidze: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Oct 2032
“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.
Market25 Oct 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Oct 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Willian Teixeira commits to Zugdidi for another 2 years.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
The manager makes an example of Archil Ananidze
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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 dugout25 Oct 2032
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2032
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Oct 2032
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachana Janelidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Sandro Daraselia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout4 Oct 2032
Goga Kiteishvili: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Willian Teixeira, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Goga Kiteishvili has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Sep 2032
The season ends: position 11 for Zugdidi
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 29 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market27 Sep 2032
“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.
Market27 Sep 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Janelidze 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 dugout27 Sep 2032
The manager makes an example of Daniel Tavares
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad20 Sep 2032
At 21, Khvicha Lobjanidze is already the best thing here
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. Zugdidi have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match18 Sep 2032
It finished 2‑1, and it was Goga Arveladze’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zugdidi.
The terraces20 Sep 2032
He is 21 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Ninety minutes of Goga Arveladze at his very best
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zugdidi.
Squad20 Sep 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Otar Arveladze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2032
Nowhere to hide for Zugdidi
0‑3 against Samtredia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market13 Sep 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zugdidi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bachana Ananidze commits to Zugdidi for another 3 years.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2032
The window shuts on the Pedro Manoel deal
Zugdidi ran out of time with Dila. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
Nobody left the Zugdidi dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Sep 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2032
Fee done, terms next for Pedro Manoel
Zugdidi and Dila have settled on $170.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Player ratings6 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Zugdidi close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 6 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 dugout6 Sep 2032
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Squad6 Sep 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Sep 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Goga Arveladze. 2‑1 against Sapovnela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match4 Sep 2032
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2032
2‑9 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Market30 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
Zugdidi asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2032
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.
Market23 Aug 2032
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2032
No sign of nerves from Archil Ananidze at 20 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Archil Ananidze did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match21 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match21 Aug 2032
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zugdidi and Dinamo Batumi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Aug 2032
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match21 Aug 2032
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Aug 2032
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chikhura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
Everything agreed with Dinamo Tbilisi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Aug 2032
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings16 Aug 2032
Jaba Janelidze was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
Everything agreed with Dila, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Boakye and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Match7 Aug 2032
Late, late show earns Zugdidi a point
Minute 89, against Shukura, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match7 Aug 2032
It needed Otar Arveladze to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Shukura, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market9 Aug 2032
Chikhura are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Zugdidi will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zugdidi dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets2 Aug 2032
Zugdidi and Dinamo Tbilisi have settled on $120.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market2 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Aug 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings2 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Aug 2032
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad2 Aug 2032
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sandro Kiteishvili is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad2 Aug 2032
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sandro Daraselia is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Jul 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Chikhura, and it could have been more.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
Marked 8.22 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zugdidi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market26 Jul 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match24 Jul 2032
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
He is 21, 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.
The terraces26 Jul 2032
He is 21 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
26 shut-outs in 99 appearances. A keeper’s career is counted in games where nothing happened, and none of it happened by accident.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
-
Player ratings
Nobody could get near Jaba Janelidze
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jul 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chikhura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match17 Jul 2032
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Jul 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zugdidi have done the hard part with Dinamo Tbilisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Goga Arveladze 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.
Match17 Jul 2032
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zugdidi told Bachana Chakvetadze something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikheil Kvilitaia
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zugdidi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match10 Jul 2032
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings12 Jul 2032
Archil Ananidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
The deal with Dila is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The dugout12 Jul 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 Jul 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Jul 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Archil Ananidze 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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sandro Daraselia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
-
Match
Zugdidi and Merani take a point apiece
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2032
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match3 Jul 2032
Beaten 0‑5 by Saburtalo, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad5 Jul 2032
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match3 Jul 2032
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Match3 Jul 2032
Zugdidi cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market5 Jul 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Temur Qazaishvili and Zugdidi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Jul 2032
Zugdidi leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2032
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Jun 2032
Nowhere to hide for Zugdidi
0‑3 against Dinamo Tbilisi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market28 Jun 2032
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Jun 2032
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Jun 2032
Zugdidi cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jaba Janelidze, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
Nobody left the Zugdidi dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
-
The dugout
Sandro Daraselia dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jun 2032
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Jun 2032
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑4 beating by Tskhinvali was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market21 Jun 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zugdidi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
“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.
Market21 Jun 2032
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo Kutaisi have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match19 Jun 2032
Zugdidi cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sandro Kiteishvili, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikheil Kvilitaia
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Jun 2032
Beaten 0‑3 by Lokomotivi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad14 Jun 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market14 Jun 2032
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Everything agreed with Dila, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dila have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2032
Mikheil Kvilitaia damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
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.
Market7 Jun 2032
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Jun 2032
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Jun 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
A loan enquiry to Samtredia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
The manager makes an example of Otar Arveladze
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikheil Kvilitaia
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match29 May 2032
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Khvicha Shengelia scored in the 87th minute, Samtredia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Zugdidi took the lot.
Player ratings31 May 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings31 May 2032
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market31 May 2032
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match29 May 2032
Three points for Zugdidi, 2‑1 the final word against Samtredia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces31 May 2032
He is 21 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.
Squad31 May 2032
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Mikheil Gvelesiani
-
Squad
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikheil Kvilitaia
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 May 2032
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market24 May 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Khvicha Lobjanidze commits to Zugdidi for another 4 years.
Squad24 May 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Player ratings24 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 May 2032
A 2‑1 win over Sapovnela, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 May 2032
Ninety minutes of Goga Arveladze at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zugdidi.
Player ratings24 May 2032
Jaba Janelidze was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 May 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikheil Kvilitaia
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match15 May 2032
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑4 beating by Torpedo Kutaisi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad17 May 2032
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match15 May 2032
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
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 dugout17 May 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 May 2032
Nobody left the Zugdidi dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad17 May 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Tavares and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 May 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikheil Kvilitaia
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2032
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings10 May 2032
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khvicha Lobjanidze did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad10 May 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Levan Shengelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 May 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout10 May 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings10 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2032
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market3 May 2032
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 May 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match1 May 2032
0‑1 to Kolkheti, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings3 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout3 May 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad3 May 2032
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Khvicha Lobjanidze is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad3 May 2032
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2032
Sandro Daraselia dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2032
Mikheil Kvilitaia damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings26 Apr 2032
Archil Ananidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 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.
Market26 Apr 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match24 Apr 2032
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad26 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Zugdidi would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Apr 2032
Guria will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zugdidi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.40
A mark of 8.40 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces19 Apr 2032
He is 20 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Ninety minutes of Jaba Janelidze at his very best
Marked 8.44. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zugdidi.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Daniel Tavares 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Apr 2032
A 1‑0 win over Chikhura, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Jaba Janelidze was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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 2032
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Squad12 Apr 2032
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 dugout12 Apr 2032
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Mar 2032
Zugdidi bow out of the cup
Dinamo Batumi go through and Zugdidi go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market5 Apr 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match3 Apr 2032
A bad afternoon for Zugdidi against Dila
0‑2 to Dila, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Apr 2032
At 18 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Zugdidi will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout5 Apr 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market5 Apr 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Sandro Daraselia has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zugdidi.
Player ratings5 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings29 Mar 2032
No sign of nerves from Archil Ananidze at 19 — 8.10
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Archil Ananidze did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market29 Mar 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces29 Mar 2032
He is 20 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.
Match27 Mar 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Beka Gamsakhurdia. 2‑0 against Merani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad29 Mar 2032
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2032
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑5 beating by Saburtalo was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match20 Mar 2032
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
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 dugout22 Mar 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Mar 2032
Zugdidi leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
Nobody left the Zugdidi dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2032
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match13 Mar 2032
Nowhere to hide for Zugdidi
0‑3 against Dinamo Tbilisi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2032
Doors closed at Zugdidi
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Khvicha Lobjanidze'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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Squad15 Mar 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mikheil Kvilitaia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Mar 2032
Khvicha Lobjanidze, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market8 Mar 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Goga Arveladze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
7 academy graduates step up at Zugdidi
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Player ratings8 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Match6 Mar 2032
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market8 Mar 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kakha Qazaishvili has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mamuka Kakabadze 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Goga Kobiashvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bachana Mikautadze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
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 Zugdidi would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Goga Kobiashvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Feb 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Goga Arveladze 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Boakye commits to Zugdidi for another 3 years.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
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 Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze is on it.
Squad23 Feb 2032
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Feb 2032
He is 20, 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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Feb 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aleksandre Mchedlidze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Daniel Tavares falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market16 Feb 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets9 Feb 2032
Everything agreed with Dila, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad9 Feb 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Daniel Tavares 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.
Market9 Feb 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout9 Feb 2032
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad9 Feb 2032
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Zugdidi close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 1 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.
Squad2 Feb 2032
At 19, Archil Ananidze is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Zugdidi have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market2 Feb 2032
“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.
Market2 Feb 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Goga Kobiashvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Goga Arveladze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market2 Feb 2032
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.
Market2 Feb 2032
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mikheil Kvaratskhelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zugdidi will try again when the window opens; Chikhura may not be selling by then.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
A loan enquiry to Dila: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jan 2032
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Jan 2032
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
Samtredia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jan 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Goga Kobiashvili
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Jan 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zugdidi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad19 Jan 2032
He is 20, 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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Daniel Tavares 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jan 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Goga Kobiashvili
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Chikhura wanted more than $2.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Zugdidi asked and Dila said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Jan 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jan 2032
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Market5 Jan 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Zugdidi asked and Samtredia 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 dugout5 Jan 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Zugdidi have made the call to Dila. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The window opens at Zugdidi
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Dec 2031
Goga Kobiashvili damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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 dugout29 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Dec 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout29 Dec 2031
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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Dec 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Goga Kobiashvili
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Dec 2031
At 20, Khvicha Lobjanidze is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Zugdidi have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market22 Dec 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
The Zugdidi production line keeps running
52 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Dec 2031
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tornike Daraselia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Dec 2031
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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Temur Qazaishvili commits to Zugdidi for another 2 years.
Squad8 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Dec 2031
A season's verdict on Archil Ananidze: the best of his age
Zugdidi have a 19-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Dec 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout1 Dec 2031
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 dugout1 Dec 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Nov 2031
He is 20, 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Market24 Nov 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
The Zugdidi production line keeps running
52 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad17 Nov 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaba Shengelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Market17 Nov 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zugdidi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 Nov 2031
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad10 Nov 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Nov 2031
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 Nov 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sandro Kiteishvili and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Daniel Tavares 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Oct 2031
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Willian Teixeira and Zugdidi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Market27 Oct 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sandro Kashia has his answer from Zugdidi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market27 Oct 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Oct 2031
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Oct 2031
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Oct 2031
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad13 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bachana Chakvetadze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Oct 2031
“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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad6 Oct 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Daniel Tavares 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Sep 2031
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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout29 Sep 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Tavares 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.
Market29 Sep 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
Sandro Daraselia asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
Zugdidi keep producing them
52 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Market29 Sep 2031
Zugdidi have made Sandro Kashia available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Sep 2031
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.
Match22 Sep 2031
Zugdidi finish in position 10
34 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zugdidi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Sep 2031
0‑2 to Lokomotivi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Sep 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Tavares commits to Zugdidi for another 3 years.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match13 Sep 2031
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Archil Ananidze scored in the 89th minute, Sioni had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Zugdidi took the lot.
Squad15 Sep 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zugdidi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad15 Sep 2031
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match13 Sep 2031
Zugdidi cannot stop winning
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.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bachana Ananidze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets15 Sep 2031
Zugdidi asked and Dila said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Sep 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zugdidi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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 dugout8 Sep 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
Zugdidi asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
The clock did what Torpedo Kutaisi would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match6 Sep 2031
Three points for Zugdidi, 1‑0 the final word against Samtredia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Sep 2031
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Zugdidi close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 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.
Market1 Sep 2031
Chikhura come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zugdidi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zugdidi know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match30 Aug 2031
Three points for Zugdidi, 2‑1 the final word against Sapovnela in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces1 Sep 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Bachana Ananidze 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Aug 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match23 Aug 2031
0‑6 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zugdidi have done the hard part with Tskhinvali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Aug 2031
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zugdidi and Torpedo Kutaisi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Zugdidi asked and Dinamo Batumi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market25 Aug 2031
Add another name to the list: Chikhura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Goga Kobiashvili. The answer from Zugdidi has not changed — yet.
The dugout25 Aug 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Aug 2031
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zugdidi have done the hard part with Torpedo Kutaisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad18 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Daniel Tavares 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.
Looking ahead18 Aug 2031
A test against the best for Zugdidi
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Torpedo Kutaisi.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Aug 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zugdidi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Archil Ananidze, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Goga Arveladze 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 dugout11 Aug 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match9 Aug 2031
Archil Ananidze scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Kolkheti, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad11 Aug 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sandro Daraselia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khvicha Lobjanidze did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zugdidi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match2 Aug 2031
Zugdidi make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zugdidi have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze and Zugdidi agree another 4 years.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Zugdidi asked and Dila 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 terraces4 Aug 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jul 2031
Sandro Daraselia damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Match26 Jul 2031
Guria will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zugdidi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.52, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
Archil Ananidze, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.69
A mark of 8.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market28 Jul 2031
Sapovnela come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zugdidi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Archil Gamsakhurdia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Zugdidi asked and Dinamo Batumi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces28 Jul 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jul 2031
Sandro Daraselia damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Match19 Jul 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Chikhura, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match19 Jul 2031
The drought breaks for Zugdidi
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chikhura were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
Marked 7.92 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zugdidi have done the hard part with Torpedo Kutaisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Zugdidi asked and Torpedo Kutaisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces21 Jul 2031
He is 20 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Jaba Janelidze
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Squad
A row about effort at Zugdidi
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2031
12 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Jul 2031
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Jul 2031
Nowhere to hide for Zugdidi
0‑6 against Dila, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Everything agreed with Dila, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Match12 Jul 2031
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zugdidi and Dila in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Zugdidi asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jul 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Levan Shengelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jul 2031
11 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Jul 2031
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
$430.0K settles it between the clubs for Levan Khozrevanidze
Dinamo Batumi have accepted the money. What Zugdidi do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Archil Gamsakhurdia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Chikhura wanted more than $3.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Player ratings7 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Jul 2031
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sandro Daraselia
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Jun 2031
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Jun 2031
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.
Match28 Jun 2031
Zugdidi cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
The offer went to Chikhura this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad30 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo Kutaisi have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Jun 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market30 Jun 2031
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zugdidi have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sandro Daraselia
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Jun 2031
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑5 beating by Dinamo Tbilisi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match21 Jun 2031
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
9 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.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
$190.0K settles it between the clubs for Irakli Siradze
Torpedo Kutaisi have accepted the money. What Zugdidi do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad23 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match21 Jun 2031
3 matches without a goal for Zugdidi
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.
Boardroom23 Jun 2031
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad23 Jun 2031
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.