“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 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Jaba Qazaishvili, 20, 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 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Add another name to the list: Shukura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aleksandre Kvaratskhelia. The answer from Zugdidi has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Guria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Jaba Qazaishvili, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 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 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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Irakli Mikautadze has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zugdidi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zugdidi, and 6 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Kolkheti arrived with $92.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Saba Ananidze has gone, the accounts have $92.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lokomotivi had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Beka Lobjanidze provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Merani were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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.
“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.
Tornike Chakvetadze 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.
He is 15 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.
10 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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zugdidi can tell you which week it ends in.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 19 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Ananidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
0‑3 to Tskhinvali, 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Guria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandre Kiteishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugout21 Jun 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Giorgi Gamsakhurdia to a room that had heard them before.
$460.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
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.
He is going to Torpedo Kutaisi, the club has $460.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revaz Daraselia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Janelidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zugdidi can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Ananidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Tornike Chakvetadze 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.
“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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Giorgi Gamsakhurdia was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Zugdidi dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleksandre Gvelesiani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
“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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Janelidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Giorgi Gamsakhurdia after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Giorgi Gamsakhurdia left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Revaz Lobjanidze, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Ananidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Giorgi Gamsakhurdia on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Zugdidi is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
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.
“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.
“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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Revaz Lobjanidze did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandre Gvelesiani, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Giorgi Gamsakhurdia to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zugdidi has been clear about where Mikheil Janelidze stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Out, 1‑2 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
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.
It needed Aleksandre Kiteishvili to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Merani, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
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.” Giorgi Gamsakhurdia chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
34 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.
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.
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.
0‑2 to Saburtalo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Giorgi Gamsakhurdia to a room that had heard them before.
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.
41 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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Mikheil Ananidze, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Janelidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It needed Mikheil Ananidze to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dinamo Tbilisi, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandre Kiteishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saba Mchedlidze has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Marked 7.21 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
55 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 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zugdidi, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saba Ananidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 35, with 2 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Zugdidi would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revaz Daraselia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Janelidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleksandre Gvelesiani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Zugdidi would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Zugdidi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
“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.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aleksandre Kvaratskhelia signs something — a contract at Zugdidi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zugdidi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
$160.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
84 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 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.
He is going to Kolkheti, the club has $160.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Zugdidi close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikheil Ananidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nika Kvaratskhelia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tornike Mikautadze 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.
91 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.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zugdidi told Davit Kvaratskhelia something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
21 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Saba Ananidze had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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 deal that would have taken Mikheil Janelidze to Guria has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Zugdidi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
27 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.
The offer from Kolkheti for Aleksandre Gvelesiani was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revaz Daraselia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
35 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.
Tornike Chakvetadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khvicha Lobjanidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
42 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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It 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.
56 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revaz Daraselia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nika Kvaratskhelia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
7 new faces, and Zugdidi are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Shota Lobjanidze has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“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.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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.
“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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revaz Daraselia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I watch every Zugdidi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chikhura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zugdidi, and 7 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
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. Giorgi Mikautadze has moved up it.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Aleksandre Gvelesiani has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Aleksandre Gvelesiani may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Avtandil Ananidze has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Levan Kobiashvili has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Revaz Arveladze has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Irakli Kvilitaia 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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachana Tsitaishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zugdidi, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Somebody from Saburtalo has seen every one of Revaz Lobjanidze’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at Zugdidi knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachana Tsitaishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Davit Mchedlidze has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zugdidi, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jaba Qazaishvili did not need any: 8.31, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Lokomotivi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Revaz 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zugdidi, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vakhtang Kiteishvili and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
7 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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Giorgi Gamsakhurdia left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Beka 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.
“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.
“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.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Shukura moved on, Mikheil Ananidze reports back to Zugdidi, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bachana Tsitaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vakhtang Kiteishvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tornike Mikautadze had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 9 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Merani moved on, Mikheil Janelidze reports back to Zugdidi, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 phone has started ringing about Tornike Mikautadze again, and this time the name on the line is Shukura. Zugdidi are listening politely and promising nothing.
It needed Bachana Tsitaishvili to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Torpedo Kutaisi, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
$390.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Merani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He is going to Dinamo Batumi, the club has $390.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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.
Nika Kvaratskhelia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachana Tsitaishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$190.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Torpedo Kutaisi go through and Zugdidi go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The offer from Saburtalo for Aleksandre Gvelesiani was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
He is going to Dinamo Batumi, the club has $190.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotivi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Beka Lobjanidze. The answer from Zugdidi has not changed — yet.
Nika Kvaratskhelia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bachana Tsitaishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Temur Lomadze has, at Zugdidi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Goga Mchedlidze again, and this time the name on the line is Kolkheti. Zugdidi are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaba Kobiashvili 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.