Marked for Giuseppe Simone
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑3 to Foggia, 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Altamura
Fabrizio Alastra 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 dugout15 Feb 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.
Boardroom15 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Altamura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Zazza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Feb 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 Claudio Fabbri to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giuseppe Simone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Altamura lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Alessio Curcio yet — 7.81
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Altamura
Tobia Mogentale 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessio Curcio. 1‑0 against Casertana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Marco Crimi 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Claudio Fabbri could afford to be generous.
Squad8 Feb 2027
No place for Franco Pinho in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Altamura are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead8 Feb 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Foggia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Altamura have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Altamura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 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 Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Altamura asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Bari made Altamura work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matteo Zazza 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 7.63. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Altamura
Ibrahima Mbaye 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Ibrahima Mbaye
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Altamura
Position 12, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 107% of the Altamura income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Claudio Fabbri after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giuseppe Simone’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
Altamura say no — this time
The offer from Brasil de Pelotas for Robson Luiz 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Rosafio. 2‑1 against Salernitana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Dipinto, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Claudio Fabbri on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Giuseppe Simone
Nobody at Altamura 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.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cosenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Chances created: 6. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Altamura was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ibrahima Mbaye 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Potenza left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Claudio Fabbri to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Altamura, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Roberto Pirrello's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 5.22. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Olaf Gorter: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Altamura will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 104% of everything Altamura earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Giuseppe Simone to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Casarano, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Claudio Fabbri was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Altamura dressing room was either.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Nazzaro
“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.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Rosafio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Chances created: 6. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Altamura scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Foggia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Gabriele Ferrari, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Altamura
9 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Claudio Fabbri could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Nicholas Fantoni'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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Giuseppe Simone
Nobody at Altamura 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Altamura asked and Rapid Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giuseppe Simone. 1‑0 against Monopoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Antonino Viola, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Claudio Fabbri could afford to be generous.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Altamura can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 13 in, 0 out at Altamura
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Altamura will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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. Matteo Falasca has moved up it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Picerno next, and one man in the Altamura dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Tobia Mogentale 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I want to play”: Olaf Gorter speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market7 Sep 2026
Altamura spent the window trying to move Lorenzo Peschetola on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Altamura have done the hard part with Molde, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No thanks: Ewen Jaouen rejects the move
Altamura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stade de Reims, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Robson Luiz 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 dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Altamura
9 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Transfer targets
A loan move for George Puşcaş is in the works
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Player ratings
Vincenzo Millico beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicola Dipinto and Altamura agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IFK Goteborg have kept their man, and Altamura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Altamura
Robson Luiz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Aug 2026
47 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Ewen Jaouen is in the works
Altamura have made the call to Stade de Reims. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Altamura say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.