Marked for Carmelo Limonelli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 May 2028
“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.
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Spezia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petko Hristov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro Chichizola, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 May 2028
Vanja Vlahović knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spezia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Di Serio signs something — a contract at Spezia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 May 2028
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.
Market22 May 2028
Spezia have made Alessio Insignito available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad22 May 2028
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Squad22 May 2028
Questions about Killian Prouchet 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 May 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Spezia have had the benefit of it.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Petko Hristov 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.
Squad1 May 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Spezia will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout1 May 2028
Massimo Zilli 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.
The dugout1 May 2028
Mathis Hamdi gets it from the manager
“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 dugout1 May 2028
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.
Market1 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Szymon Żurkowski signs something — a contract at Spezia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market1 May 2028
Spezia have made Marco Ruggero available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Ascoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoul Guiebré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Marcos Curado has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ascoli is pretending otherwise.
Match19 Feb 2028
Ascoli get the job done against Pisa
A 1‑0 win over Pisa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Carmelo Limonelli ran the middle of the pitch — 6.53
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.53, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ascoli had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Cristiano Catalano kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nahuel Speck, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Samuele Vitale has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ascoli 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
Crisis
Market13 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Abdoul Guiebré 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ascoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout13 Dec 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 Cristiano Catalano left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“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 dugout13 Dec 2027
Tommaso Milanese 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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ascoli told Jonathan Menéndez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Menéndez
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ascoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Jeff Ekhator, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.26
A mark of 9.26 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Jeff Ekhator takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market20 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ascoli can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ascoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match18 Sep 2027
Mantova made Ascoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Abdoul Guiebré 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 terraces20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Jonathan Menéndez damages knee ligaments — 129 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giacomo De Pieri is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
29 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Monza have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Don Bolsius. The answer from Ascoli has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Ascoli asked and Picerno 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Samuele Vitale has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ascoli 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ascoli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Menéndez
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ascoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ascoli can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Don Bolsius has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ascoli is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Ascoli is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Nahuel Speck in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ascoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Simone D'Uffizi
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Ascoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Curado 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
Sergiu Perciun has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ascoli 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
Market21 Jun 2027
Bologna paid $810.0K and Spezia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Alessio Insignito is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Spezia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleš Matějů was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jérémy Oyono, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
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 Killian Prouchet is on it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The name of Petko Hristov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Spezia say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mathis Hamdi has had enough of the bench
“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 Spezia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match21 Jun 2027
Continental football is in reach for Spezia
49 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Menéndez
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ascoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ascoli can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Ascoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Damiano Menna, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Ascoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Curado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Spezia 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mater Al-Hosani and Ascoli agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“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 dugout14 Jun 2027
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
Market29 Mar 2027
Petko Hristov wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Spezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Aleš Matějů 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Spezia
Mattéo Escouflaire 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 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Santiago Burgos
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
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.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petko Hristov signs something — a contract at Spezia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match29 Mar 2027
Spezia have something to play for
Position 5 on 46 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Massimo Zilli has written the date down.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spezia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Feb 2027
Nowhere to hide for Spezia
0‑3 against Pescara, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Spezia heard it as anything else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Spezia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petko Hristov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Boris Radunović, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Spezia know it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Christian Comotto is the division's best young player this month
At 18 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Spezia will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adriano De Santis after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carmelo Limonelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad25 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Laurs Skjellerup, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match25 Jan 2027
Spezia are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 35 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spezia can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Jan 2027
Spezia 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 ratings25 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Spezia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleš Matějů was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Jan 2027
Spezia make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match23 Jan 2027
Three points for Spezia, 3‑1 the final word against Forli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Looking ahead25 Jan 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Spezia
Reggiana next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Laurs Skjellerup takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Laurs Skjellerup provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spezia can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Dec 2026
Petko Hristov wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Spezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Spezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petko Hristov 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Galo Capomaggio
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Spezia
Flavio Santos 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
Too much change too quickly at Spezia
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spezia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match5 Dec 2026
Still nobody has beaten Spezia
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleš Matějů commits to Spezia for another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Spezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petko Hristov 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.93. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Christian Comotto
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Christian Comotto has come out of that comparison in the side, and Spezia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match5 Dec 2026
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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Mert Durmush gets it from the manager
“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
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Spezia — 7.76
1 for Szymon Żurkowski, marked 7.76, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Spezia do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Spezia
Kaleb Jimenez 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 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Szymon Żurkowski. 2‑0 against Vis Pesaro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Spezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Galo Capomaggio 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nahuel Herrera Bach and Spezia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Laurs Skjellerup was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Spezia are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Spezia pick somebody else ahead of Flavio Santos