Marked for Simone Cortese
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
$1.4M — a new record at Picerno
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Picerno
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Picerno is running low.
Market26 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Simone Cortese
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simone Cortese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Picerno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jun 2028
89 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Marco Perri 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jun 2028
The bid was some way short and Picerno did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Karim Cardoni 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Augusto Subirats, and the manager let it.
Market12 Jun 2028
The name of Angelo Veltri keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Picerno say nothing, which says plenty.
Market12 Jun 2028
Picerno have let the market know Giuseppe Guadagni can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Picerno
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Simone Cortese
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simone Cortese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Picerno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings1 May 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market1 May 2028
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 May 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Picerno
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Picerno is running low.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Defensive actions: 27, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad1 May 2028
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Picerno know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Market1 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Simone Cortese
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simone Cortese will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Picerno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Apr 2028
Three points for Picerno, 1‑0 the final word against Latina in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Apr 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Pressure builds in the Picerno boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match1 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Picerno's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Picerno has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Picerno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Mohammed El Âdfaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match1 Apr 2028
A bad afternoon for Picerno against Potenza
1‑2 to Potenza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Elia Summa
“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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Picerno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“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.
Market6 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Picerno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriele Bellodi and Picerno agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Karim Cardoni 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
0‑2 to Casertana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad6 Mar 2028
No hiding place for Léo Abreu
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Léo Abreu, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Augusto Subirats was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match12 Feb 2028
Whatever happens, Picerno 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karim Cardoni and Picerno agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.61, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“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.
Match12 Feb 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Léo Abreu leaves them behind him
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market14 Feb 2028
Elia Summa linked with a move away
The name of Elia Summa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Picerno say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Valerio Biagini: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Picerno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market7 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Picerno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Feb 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Feb 2028
A 1‑0 win over Monopoli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A masterclass from Léo Abreu
Marked 8.32 — 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“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.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A defender's afternoon for Angelo Veltri
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces7 Feb 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2027
A one-man rearguard from Elia Summa
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The match ball belongs to Léo Abreu, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Sep 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Léo Abreu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Picerno.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Picerno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Aug 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elia Summa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Pietro Bertoni, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Simone Cortese
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Picerno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The chase for Valerio Biagini ended with $120.0K changing hands and Pontedera out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jun 2027
Richard Marcone has left for Arzignano in a $120.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Picerno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Marcone, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 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 Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Jan 2027
Arezzo come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ospitaletto did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
David Valero 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ospitaletto had the best player on the pitch.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mattia Ievoli
“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.
Match16 Jan 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Renate defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.