Seeking Kvaradonna - a Georgian club save

[ToMexico!!]

April 2025

An okay month, should have been better had we beaten Lokomotivi instead of last gasp drawing against them. A real solid win against recently promoted Dila. 

Nine games gone and we sit 3rd still, a point behind first and second with a much better goal difference. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2025

It felt a quiet month due to the lack of goals scored. Four games in the league and just one win with five points picked up in total. We should have beaten Telavi whilst Torpedo were too strong for us. A fully rotated squad for the Iveria cup game saw us come out with just a 2-0 win. 

In 3rd placed but things are tight in the table, just six points span 1st to 6th, its becoming a really competitive league. 

Worrying. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2025 - Conference League 1st Round Draw

A difficult opening draw against Moldova's Sheriff. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2025

A better month with three wins and a draw in the league but tarnished by the shock loss in the cup. We comfortbably beat Saburtalo which unfortunately helped them sack their manager this month, we then got a good draw away at Dinamo Tbilisi before beating Dinamo Batumi and then Samgurali. 

We now top the table on goal difference but 5th place is only five points behind. 

We made a signing this month too, Giorgi Kutsia joins having been without a club for 6 months having left Dinamo Tbilisi at the end of last season. The Georgian international can play primarily in midfield but can also cover right back. 

Double worrying, we're losing between £100k and £150k per month. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2025 - Youth Intake Preview

Oh jeez, I didn't think things could get this bad. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2025 - Cash Injection

[ToMexico!!]

July 2025

A good month in the league as we stretch our unbeaten run to nine games. A draw against Dila was a disappointing results against a side who are mid-table at best, we bettered that with a comfortable 2-0 win against the leagues bottom side Lokomotivi. We battered both Telavi and Torpedo, scoring four goals in each game. 

In the Conference League we did well to keep it a one-goal deficit against a much stronger Sheriff side, we had some sort of hope going into the return but importantly home leg. We actually played this game in Tbilisi at the ground of Iberia (2020) a non-league club which had a 2,500 capacity, disappointingly we didn't sell out but made a good fist of it, drawing the game 1-1 having took the league to give us some glimmer of hope of going through on away goals.  

We top the table by five points to second placed Samgaruli with a huge goal difference compared to those just behind us. 

We received just over £215k for participating in the competition, which went someway of helping the balance.

[ToMexico!!]

August 2025 - Job Interview Offer

For the 2nd time Torpedo offer me the chance to interview for their vacant managerial position. Thanks but no thanks. 

[Carambau]

Damn! So close against Sherriff! Progress looks good though  

[ToMexico!!]

17 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Damn! So close against Sherriff! Progress looks good though  

They outplayed us home and away as expected but we took our limited chances which made the tie look a lot more closer than it probably was. I wasn't disappointed to be eliminated at such an early stage. 

Things are going better than expected this season in the league, lets hope we can continue a similar vein of form and give ourselves a chance of the title. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2025

Our unbeaten run continues to 14 games, we opened the month against Sioni in a rather boring 1-0 win before back-to-back draws against lowly Saburtalo and Dinamo Tbilisi. I rested the players for most of the week between and it came up trumps with a 4-1 demolition of Dila. At the end of the month we travelled to Batumi with them sitting in 2nd place, a real six-pointer. Without an injured left back, centre back and centre midfielder and also without a banned first choice CB we somehow battled to victory to extend our lead at the top of the table. 

Nine points clear, superior head-to-head and goal difference. Its ours to lose at this point although we have 10 games remaining, plenty of time for things to change. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2025

A quieter month which started with a loss to bring to an end our 14 game unbeaten run, Samgurali are a decent side, having won the league last season. We then beat Lokomotivi in a close, goal shy encounter before netting three second half goals against Sioni. 

That loss to Samgaruli and then them beating Dinamo Batumi has closed the gap to six points with seven games remaining. 

[Carambau]

Looking good, I guess you will hold off Samgaruli in the end

How many goals has Davitashvili scored now this season?

[ToMexico!!]

October 2025 - Cash Injection

Another smaller cash injection. 

Didn't really help. 

[ToMexico!!]

15 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Looking good, I guess you will hold off Samgaruli in the end

How many goals has Davitashvili scored now this season?

I think we should be able to hold them off, we play them last game of the season if it comes down to the wire. 

Davitashvili has had a good season so far, 16 goals in the league and 21 in total, he's playing in the middle of three up front but is more suited to a wide role. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2025 - Youth Intake

As expected. 

Utter rubbish. Quite a naturally fit bunch barring two but not many of them will last a full 90 and funny that determination gets better as the players get worse. 

Spoiler

A couple of new places of birth added. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2025

Just three games this month again as we went unbeaten, which is now up to five games, one loss in 20 games is very good form indeed. We were without five players, all injured for the Telavi game but some good play and a sending off for Telavi saw us come through 3-1 winners. A tough away game at Torpedo ended with a draw, a fair result in a tight game. We struggled against Saburtalo, we played the game without the ball, just 28% possession at home, despite that we created more chances and xG but needed a late penalty to pick up the three points. 

Samgaruli picked up three wins from three this month to close the gap to four points, despite also playing in the Conference League league phase. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2025

Back to back wins opened the month, Tbilisi blown aside by Davitashvili either side of half time, the former league winners are having a season of struggles. Dinamo Batumi came to town a week later and we instantly put them on the back foot through Musikiri after three minutes, Jamu sealed the win. 

Samgurali had an easier time of it, winning both their games against relegated Lokomotivi and lowly Telavi. They then dropped points to Sioni...

Meaning we need to equal or plainly better than result to win our first title. 

A point against Dila and title secured without the worry of having to get a result against Samgurali.

We ended the season with a loss to Samgurali, not that it mattered. 

Champions with a game to spare but second place finish just a point behind having been nine points clear at one stage. 

[ToMexico!!]

2025 Season Review

An maiden title for Rustavi as we end with a 20-11-5 record, picking up 71 points and finishing just a solitary point ahead of Samgurali in second place. We finished a fair distance ahead of the chasing pack with Dinamo Batumi finishing 3rd. Shockingly DInamo Tbilisi finish in the relegation play-offs although I don't envisage them dropping down into the second tier of Georgian football just yet. 

We scored a huge 71 goals this season in our 36 games with the next highest were Samgurali and Batumi with 43 goals each, however we did concede 32 goals which was joint second least but 10 goals more than Samgurali. Of those 71 goals, Zuriko Davitshavili scored 20 in a central striking role despite being suited to left midfield, that record seeing him crowned as the leagues top scorer. Beyond Zuriko, we shared the goals around but no player managed double figures; Musikiri (9), Lyegostayev (9), Bendianishvili (8) and an injury prone Tsulaia with seven goals. 

We crashed out of the Davit Kipriani Cup at the second round stage having beaten Sioni and Iveria before losing to Gareji. 

We also played in Europe for the first time, we were drawn against Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova in the 1st Qualifying Round. We lost the first leg away from home 3-2 before earning a draw at home to lose the tie overall 4-3 on aggregate. 

Despite cash injections from the board we're still in the red by over £600k, we received £165k for winning the league and also £215k from participating in Europe. We're still over a year away from playing in our new stadium so we will continue to lose money until the attendances can increase in the league. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2026 - Early Business

79 days left with the transfer window open and pre-season hasn't begun yet but we have our first players through the door. Firstly though, we released six first team players to make room for new arrivals. 

Gujabidze, Lyegostayev and Saine had all been first team regulars but would have fell down the pecking order this coming season. We needed a freshen up, we're league champions we needed to strengthen further. 

Incoming so far are three players, Mamuchashvili replaces Gujabidze on the bench in the DM slot, so no more needs to be said about him. Whereas, Ortiz and Martinez both signed on free transfers from Paraguayan club Deportivo Capiata who have a pethora of young talent but they had decided not to offer either of these new deals. I had originally seen Ortiz, he had popped up in my recruitment centre, offered to me by his agent. I quickly offered him a contract and a stipulation of signing was to bring in another player to help him settle. That led me to looking at the rest of the Capiata squad to find Martinez in the same situation and duly offered him a contract. 

Two new strikers, both Paraguayan, whats not to love. Ortiz is a 1 in 3 striker and Martinez is nearly 1 in 2 striker. 

We still lack a couple of defenders, could maybe upgrade at GK but all in all we're looking good going into the new season. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2026 - Cash Injection

Another £500k pumped in to the club. 

It halves our balance debt. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2026 - Poached

Our first player poached by another club which is nice to see. Shame he looks like he's going to be quite poor. 

[ToMexico!!]

Mar 2026 - Pre-Season

A fairly quiet pre-season against lower league opposition which culminated in defeat to Dinamo Batumi in the Georgian Super Cup despite taking them to extra time. 

Three more players joined, one permenantly and two on loan. 

We plumped for Jorge Manjate, offer to us by his agent from Mozambican club Ferroviario de Lichinga, we managed to snag him for £26k intially, rising to £50k based on appearances. The young defender will slot in beside Brazilian Otavio in central defence. Cheap but decent Georgian players are hard to come by, we opted to loan two more defenders in Soso Imnadze from Torpedo and Giorgadze from Dinamo Bt. both are bench players who will rotate into the side. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2026

A busy opening month with five league games with four wins and one loss against a good Dinamo Batumi side. We opened the month with a demolition job on newly promoted Martvili, although neither new striker signing managed a debut goal. A tought trip to Torpedo followed as we won comfortably with Martinez bagging his first league goal for the club. Ortiz got his first goal for the club but in that 2-1 loss to Batumi. We got things back on track against Dinamo Tbilisi with a comfortble 3-0 win, an own goal and the twin Paraguayan's netting. Sioni came to town in the last game of the month, we were 4-0 up before Touray picked up two yellows in three minutes, we held firm and Ortiz added his second before they pulled one back. 

2nd sandwiched between two unbeaten teams with Batumi on five wins from five. 

[Carambau]

Congrats to the title! Only shame that the intake was so weak... 

[ToMexico!!]

13 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Congrats to the title! Only shame that the intake was so weak... 

Thanks! 

Yeah, until our rep improves and we get some money for improvements I don't think we'll get many decent players through our intakes. 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2026

An even busier month with a sea of green until the last game of the April. 

Four away games on the bounce looked difficult on paper but we did what we had to do to get the wins. We fell behind against Saburtalo but were then 3-1 up with a third of the game remaining. A hard fought win over a resurgent Dila side, we actually had two goals disallowed so we could have been more comfortable in the end. We played Tbilisi-2016 in the cup, we were 3-2 up with 10 minutes remaining before Ortiz struck twice to take the game away from the home side. Another tough trip to Samgurali for the first time this season and we struggled a little, the home side created more chances than us and should have probably scored but Zimbabwean Musikiri struck the only goal of the game to give us another three points. 

Kolkheti-1913 were promoted last season and along with Martvili, Davitashvili struck four goals of the two games, with his hat-trick against the latter from central midfield. We ended the month at home to Torpedo, we were on course for another 1-0 win through Martinez but they scored their only effort on target in the 89th minute to snatch a point. 

Batumi lost twice this month to allow us to steal a march on them and open up a three point gap at the top. Looks like it could be a two-horse race already. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2026 - Wage Reduction

Not a great situation to be in, luckily its been set just above what we are currently spending. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2026

Another busy month, five games in the league and an easy cup game. 

We opened the month against our nearest rivals Batumi, we absoltely dominated them for a 2-0 win, they had just four shots on goal compared to our 17. Seemingly a more difficult game against Dinamo Tbilisi a week later with a rare Tsulaia goal from the bench to get the win late on. A big win in the cup midweek against Voiazhi before a shock loss at home to Saburtalo, maybe a price to pay for not rotating more midweek. Back to winning ways against Sioni, Ortiz with a double and a late, late, late equaliser from him against Dila to salvage a point. 

Six points clear now at the top of the table and they (Batumi) are a further six points ahead of 3rd. 

Ugly scenes on the balance sheet. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2026 - Cash Injection

Another £500k into the balance. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2026

Just one game in June as the league breaks for the World Cup despite Georgia not being represented in Northern America. Another win as the Twin Paraguayan's bag one each, we could and should have had more. We restricted Samgurali to no shots on target which was good from our defence. 

We keep the gap to six points with a far superior goal difference. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2026 - Champions League Draw

We face one the above clubs from the preliminary qualifying rounds. 

Then if we win that round we will face either Slovenia's Maribor or Icelandic side Stjarnan. 

Hopefully a couple of rounds at least to earn some competition prize money and try and set our finances right for the rest of the season. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2026 - Job Interview Offer

No thanks. Why would I want to move to a club battling to stay in the league? 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2026

An extremely busy month as domestic and European football returns. 

We began the month in fine fashion, Davitashvili smashing four past Kolkheti then a hat-trick past TNS. We began to rotate against Martvili but that didn't stop us from winning comfortably. We kept with the same team against TNS as we'd pretty much had the tie won in the first leg. Torpedo were too strong for us, tiredness kicked in and we couldn't hold on for a point. 

We faced Maribor in the 2nd Qualifying Round and got a good draw at home against a much stronger side. Again we rotated against Dinamo Tb. and got the win this time, Musikiri netting both. The most important game of the month, away in Slovenia, back to full strength and we dominated. Our 6 travelling away fans saw the biggest result in our history as we made it to the 3rd Qualifying Round of the Champions League.

We faced Serbian side Red Star. 

Still a six point gap to 2nd place as Batumi also lose this month, against Samgural. 

£172k in prize money and £118k in gate receipts hasn't done much to the finances yet. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2026

Another really busy month which I'll break up into league and Europe. 

We opened the month with a top of the table clash against Batumi, an unlikely source of goals in central midfielder Jamu and centre back Manjate. We then undid all our good work by losing to Saburtalo and then drawing against DIla. We then hammered five past Sioni although conceding three wasn't in the script, we went one better a week later, putting six past a hapless Kolkheti. 

We remain six points clear with 10 games remaining. 

We continued our foray into the Champions League, a ridiculous 4-4 away draw gave us some glimmour of hope of getting through but Red Star were just too strong for us in the end as we lost out 6-5 on aggregate. We dropped down in the Europa League Play-Off

To meet a familiar foe in Maribor. 

Unfortunately we didn't have the quality to beat them over two legs, we had salvaged a draw with an injury time equaliser at home but were no match for them away in Slovenia. 

Our balance is looking a lot healthier despite being in the red. £413k in prize money and £145k in gate receipts this month. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2026 - Conference League

Ker-ching! 

We could scrape three points in total here with a win over Pyunik. Newcastle 

[Carambau]

Oh come on! So unlucky in Europe both times.... at least the money for the Conference League is there  

[ToMexico!!]

19 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Oh come on! So unlucky in Europe both times.... at least the money for the Conference League is there  

We had a good run, got further in the CL qualifying that I thought we would but small steps and the Conference League is a good barometer to test ourselves against. 

Hopefully with the money we can improve the junior coaching/ youth recruitment. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2026 - Junior Coaching

Its going to take a few more upgrades to start getting some decent youth players. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2026

A cup heavy month.

We faced Tskhinvali-2 in a belated 2nd Round tie, we rotated once again but managed to score seven times, conceding three is painful against a 4th tier side. We kept with largely kept with the same side against Saburtalo, we had four or five players away on international duty, it concluded with a comfortbale 3-0 win against our fellow top tier side. Just two days later we returned to league action and managed a 1-1 draw against Samgurali. 

Dinamo Tbilisi in the cup Quarter Final and we hammered them, 5-2 with five different scorers. This game saw us set a new record for goals in a season in the cup, we now stand at 25 goals in five games with potentially two games to come. We continued that scoring form back into the league, firstly an away trip to Martvili where we stuck three past them, Jamu with another double and then back at home we absolutely hammered Dinamo Batumi, Paraguayan Ortiz with two and Zimbabwean Musikiri with a hattrick. Our other Paraguayan, Martinez made four assists. 

We also set a new record for league goals in a season with 74, we have seven more games remaining. 

10 points clear. 

A healthy balance. 

[DavidBeckham]

Absolutely smashing it in the league mate! KUTGW!

[ToMexico!!]

4 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Absolutely smashing it in the league mate! KUTGW!

Thanks DB! 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2026

All months seem to be busy now. We opened it against Steaua Bucherest in the Conference League and to my surprise we managed a win away in Romania. We returned home and days later a subdued 1-0 win over Kutaisi in the league. 

A break in games thanks to an international break gave us time to rest up. We got back under way against lowly Dinamo Tbilisi, Ortiz hammered in four goals from five shots, 5-1 victors. Back in the Conference League we were victims of a hammering, Legia Warsaw smashing four past us, at home, albeit not in our stadium. We took revenge against Saburtalo, despite rotation, an unlikely hattrick from central midfielder Jamu. 

That win over Saburtalo saw us crowned Champions for a second successive season. 

Cup semi-final time, midweek on a Wednesday against non-league opponents, whats not to like. Another hattrick, this time from bit-part player Tsulaia. We ended a busy month against Sioni in the league, 3-1 winners with Paraguayan Martinez netting twice. 

Batumi have fallen apart, two wins in the last seven games means we're 19 points clear of them although they have a game in hand. 

19th place (of 36) in the Conference League after two games. AA Gent up next. 

Weird not seeing this in red. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2026

A high scoring month, five games with 28 goals. 

We started the month with a home game against Belgian side AA Gent in the Conference League, I wasn't expecting anything from the game but gave them a good game and lost by the odd goal in five. We then hammered Dila 4-1, rotated against Kolkheti and smashed six past them. 

We went back to full strength against Newcastle, I wasn't expecting anything, not even a goal but we respected them with the line-up. The league season ended with putting another four goals in an opposition net, Davitashvili scoring his 28th and 29th of the season. 

We finish the season 23 points clear of Dinamo Batumi. 

We drop down to 29th in the Conference League, our remaining games are against Pyunik and AEK. 

[ToMexico!!]

December 2026

Three games to end the season. 

We play in and win our first Davit Kipriani's Cup Final, albeit in extra time against Torpedo Kutaisi. Temur Tsulaia possibly earning himself a one-year contract extension having scored the winner in the 119th minute. 

Two European games, a comfortable and expected three points against Armenian side Pyunik, Tsulaia with both of those goals too. We ended on a slightly sour note, losing our last competitive game of the season away in Greece to AEK, although that being said it was a close game as the scoreline suggests. 

The win over Pyunik gave us an extra £431k in prize money which helps nicely. 

[ToMexico!!]

2026 Season Review

Back-to-back league wins as we retain the title in commanding fashion by finishing the season a full 23 points ahead of second placed Dinamo Batumi. We set new league records for wins (28), points (88) and goals scored (101). We scored an average 2.8 goals per game which is very good but I feel it can and will be improved upon in the seasons to come. We did concede 33 which feels far too many considering 3rd placed Kutaisi conceded just 25 and even 5th placed Samgurali only conceded 29 but their scoring rate at the other end was barely over one goal per game. 

We made it a league and cup double for the first time by winning the Davit Kipriani's Cup. We beat Tbilisi-2016, Voiazhi, Tskhinvali-2, Saburtalo, Dinamo Tbilisi and Khikhani en route to the final against Torpedo Kt. A late extra time winner from Tsulaia sealing the victory. 

In Europe, we started in the Champions League Qualifying, beating Welsh side TNS (7-3agg) and Maribor of Slovenia (3-1 agg) before being knocked out by Red Star Belgrade (6-5 agg). We dropped down into the Europa League Play-Off with a chance of reaching the group stage, we faced Maribor again, this time failing to make the grade and losing 4-3 on aggregate. However, that loss meant we dropped down once more in the Conference League, league. We managed two wins over Steaua Bucherest and Pyunik, achieving six points and finishing the group stage in 25th place overall, level on points with Fenerbahce. 

On the pitch with the tremendous season for goals it meant some players really filled their boots. Gustavo Ortiz netted 33 goals in a debut season in Georgia and also created 15 goals for his playing partners, his form through the season earning him a call up to the Paraguay senior national team where he played three times. His Paraguayn compatriote, Diosnel Martinez scored 25 goals and made a huge 27 assists for his teammates. Sandwiched between them was Zuriko Davitashvili, he scored 30 goals playing in a mixture of pressing forward or central midfield attack, he also managed 18 assists. Luke Musikiri also filled in at pressing forward and did well, netting 21 goals. 

Table showing top seven appearance makers, goalscorers and assist makers since the save began.

Jorge Manjate had an excellent debut season in defence, the now Mozambican international was a commanding figure winning 94% of his aerial duels and winning possession an average 24 times per 90 minutes. His defensive partner Jose Otavio also had a good season but wangled a move back to his homeland Brazil. He had stated his would not be renewing his contract, I offered him out and he's joining Brazilian Second Division side AMG in the Belo Horizonte region. We will get £225k plus 20% profit and a friendly in exchange. 

We're in a much better place financially now thanks to the Conference League group stage appearance. We netted £3.47m alone from that competition in a total prize pot of £4.6m with £250k from the Champions League and £325k from the Europa League. We can now look to improve the clubs infrastructure further having already made one improvement to the junior coaching. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2027 - Early Business

Outs

We released 10 players all in all from various age groups but the three above are from the first team. So we're now a striker, goalkeeper and centre back light and we also have Otavio leaving meaning we're actaully two centre backs light.  

Ins

Two players have joined so far. Nikoloz Mali on a free from Dinamo Tbilisi, he comes into the defence at RB to offer cover and experience, freeing up Kutsia to play a more prominant role at DM. The other player to join is Ndongo Diop, a 22 year old Senegalese goalkeeper from US Goree for a release fee of £99k. I've had Diop on an African gems shortlist for best part of three seasons but had always felt that using a foreign player slot at GK wasn't wise at the time when we had two home-grown talents. At nearly 2m tall, his towering goalkeeper description seems very fitting and comes in as number one between the sticks. 

Looking at the squad right now we need in order of priority; 

1. Starting LB (to replace/rotate with youth player Tkemeladze) 
2. Starting CB (to replace the departing Otavio)
3. Back up CB (to replace the already departed Mvula)
4. Back up ST (to replace the departed Gogolashvili)
5. Back up ST (preferably home grown)
6. Back up CM (rotational CM)

We have two foreign spots available for six players that we need. Lets see what we can conjour up. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2027 - Relocation Compelte

[Carambau]

Diop looks a decent signing for that level  Going well, keep it up!

[ToMexico!!]

10 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Diop looks a decent signing for that level  Going well, keep it up!

Thanks, we're coming along nicely. The club is developing on and off the field now which is great to see.