Marked for Alejandro Vergaz
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom23 Mar 2037
The scrutiny sharpens at Renate
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Renate is running low.
Squad23 Mar 2037
18 goals and a season average of 7.60. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Tempers go at Renate
Ignacio Manzanares 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.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad23 Mar 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Corrado Riviera, and the manager let it.
Match21 Mar 2037
0‑2 to Pro Patria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
Shots: 14, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market23 Mar 2037
The name of Lorenzo De Leo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renate say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Age has not caught Marián Chobot yet — 8.93
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad16 Mar 2037
“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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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 ratings16 Mar 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Mar 2037
A season average of 7.37 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom16 Mar 2037
Renate are $24.9M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Match14 Mar 2037
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 ratings16 Mar 2037
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom23 Feb 2037
Pressure builds in the Renate boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market23 Feb 2037
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Javier Pérez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.65 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 Feb 2037
There were 6 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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
A performance of 9.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match21 Feb 2037
Pergolettese made Renate work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Ivan Veselkov 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 ratings23 Feb 2037
Marked 9.10 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Feb 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Javier Pérez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.60 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings16 Feb 2037
Marked 8.99 — 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.
Player ratings16 Feb 2037
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom16 Feb 2037
Renate are $24.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Tempers go at Renate
Luca Landolfi 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.
Squad16 Feb 2037
“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
Crisis
Boardroom2 Feb 2037
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Renate can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market2 Feb 2037
“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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2037
Crisis meeting at Renate
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Player ratings2 Feb 2037
A brace, and Javier Pérez takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javier Pérez provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Javier Pérez
16 goals and a season average of 7.56 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Feb 2037
354 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Match31 Jan 2037
No end in sight to Renate's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Renate has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Tempers go at Renate
Ignacio Manzanares 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Jan 2037
The scrutiny sharpens at Renate
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Renate is running low.
Market26 Jan 2037
“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.
Player ratings26 Jan 2037
No sign of nerves from John Ward at 20 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. John Ward did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match24 Jan 2037
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Jan 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Jan 2037
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Renate and Cittadella, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad26 Jan 2037
The manager makes an example of Ivan Veselkov
“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 ratings26 Jan 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jan 2037
There were 6 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
“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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Tempers go at Renate
Ignacio Manzanares 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match17 Jan 2037
0‑1 to Ospitaletto, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings19 Jan 2037
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom19 Jan 2037
The Renate debt reaches $24.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The terraces19 Jan 2037
Everybody has an opinion about Marián Chobot
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings19 Jan 2037
14 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jan 2037
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings5 Jan 2037
At 40 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Javier Pérez
13 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad5 Jan 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Vergaz and Renate agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Tempers go at Renate
Aboubacar Doumbia 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 ratings5 Jan 2037
Javier Pérez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.27. 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.
Boardroom5 Jan 2037
$682.5K of the owner's money at Renate
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match3 Jan 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Javier Pérez. 1‑0 against Trento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
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Boardroom
No signings allowed at Renate
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Boardroom
Wages eat 131% of everything Renate earn
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Alejandro Vergaz
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Dec 2036
Alcione Milano left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Dec 2036
Ivan Veselkov 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 ratings22 Dec 2036
Marked 8.77. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Renate.
Squad22 Dec 2036
The manager makes an example of Ivan Veselkov
“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 ratings22 Dec 2036
Marked 8.58 — 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.
Boardroom22 Dec 2036
The Renate debt reaches $24.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad22 Dec 2036
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad22 Dec 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Nov 2036
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Javier Pérez
11 goals and a season average of 7.45 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad24 Nov 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match22 Nov 2036
A 3‑1 win over Vicenza, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Nov 2036
Ninety minutes of Lorenzo De Leo at his very best
Marked 8.69. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Renate.
Boardroom24 Nov 2036
The Renate debt reaches $24.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad24 Nov 2036
The manager makes an example of Andrea Primasso
“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.
Market24 Nov 2036
The name of Alejandro Vergaz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renate say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Nov 2036
Renate are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad17 Nov 2036
The match ball belongs to Javier Pérez, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Jack McDowell: 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.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Nov 2036
“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.
Match15 Nov 2036
The wait goes on for Renate
5 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.
Squad17 Nov 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Nov 2036
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Match15 Nov 2036
Renate come up short against Lecco
Lecco left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match15 Nov 2036
Javier Pérez among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Javier Pérez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Renate and Lecco.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Oct 2036
“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.
Market20 Oct 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Oct 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Franco Meritello for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Renate will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Oct 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Oct 2036
Renate are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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.
Match18 Oct 2036
1‑2 to Virtus Verona, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Oct 2036
“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
Squad13 Oct 2036
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.
Market13 Oct 2036
Gonçalo Sousa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Oct 2036
Tempers go at Renate
Ignacio Manzanares 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.
Squad13 Oct 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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 Oct 2036
A 3‑2 win over Pergolettese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings13 Oct 2036
A performance of 9.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad13 Oct 2036
“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.
Match11 Oct 2036
Renate are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings13 Oct 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.88, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Boardroom
No signings allowed at Renate
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Match
Renate settle it inside twenty minutes
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Boardroom
Wages eat 97% of everything Renate earn
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Sep 2036
A brace, and Alejandro Vergaz takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Vergaz provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market22 Sep 2036
Only the photograph left for Gonçalo Sousa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gonçalo Sousa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 Sep 2036
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match20 Sep 2036
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match20 Sep 2036
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Renate and Novara in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad22 Sep 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad22 Sep 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Sep 2036
A performance of 8.73 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Sep 2036
The manager makes an example of Andrea Primasso
“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
Upbeat
Match13 Sep 2036
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings15 Sep 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad15 Sep 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market15 Sep 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Sep 2036
“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.
Player ratings15 Sep 2036
Marked 9.91 — 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.
Squad15 Sep 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings15 Sep 2036
Defensive actions: 22, 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 ratings15 Sep 2036
A performance of 9.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Sep 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad8 Sep 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Sep 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aboubacar Doumbia commits to Renate for another 2 years.
Squad8 Sep 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Sep 2036
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match6 Sep 2036
It finished 3‑1, and it was Javier Pérez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Renate.
Boardroom8 Sep 2036
The owner puts $435.7K into Renate
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Player ratings8 Sep 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.60, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom8 Sep 2036
Wages eat 96% of everything Renate 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Aug 2036
Luciano Paganelli damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Squad11 Aug 2036
Mirko Basile is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad11 Aug 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Aug 2036
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Loan watch11 Aug 2036
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Renate, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom11 Aug 2036
Wages eat 94% of everything Renate 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jul 2036
Luciano Paganelli damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Market14 Jul 2036
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mirko Basile is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jul 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Boardroom14 Jul 2036
105% of the income goes out in wages at Renate
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Jun 2036
Luciano Paganelli damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Tempers go at Renate
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Javier Pérez 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.
Market16 Jun 2036
Picerno are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Renate will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market16 Jun 2036
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Renate know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 May 2036
24 goals and a season average of 7.46. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings19 May 2036
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad19 May 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match17 May 2036
Three points for Renate, 2‑1 the final word against Trento in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 May 2036
Marked 8.99 — 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.
Player ratings19 May 2036
A performance of 8.91 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces19 May 2036
At 23 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.
Squad19 May 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvatore Di Chiara, and the manager let it.
Squad19 May 2036
Tempers go at Renate
Ignacio Manzanares 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 May 2036
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 May 2036
Ivan Veselkov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 May 2036
The wait goes on for Renate
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 May 2036
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 Renate have had the benefit of it.
Player ratings5 May 2036
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.68 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad5 May 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 May 2036
$685.1K of the owner's money at Renate
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 May 2036
Ivan Veselkov 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.
Squad5 May 2036
“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
Crisis
Match19 Apr 2036
5 matches without a win for Renate
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Renate are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Apr 2036
A season average of 7.47 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings21 Apr 2036
Marked 9.28 — 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.
Player ratings21 Apr 2036
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.
Squad21 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo De Leo, and the manager let it.
Match19 Apr 2036
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Javier Pérez knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Javier Pérez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 Apr 2036
The name of Alejandro Vergaz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renate say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Javier Pérez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.50 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match12 Apr 2036
No end in sight to Renate's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Renate has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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 ratings14 Apr 2036
Marked 8.35 — 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.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Boardroom14 Apr 2036
Renate are $24.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Boardroom14 Apr 2036
Wages eat 114% of everything Renate 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 2036
“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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Javier Pérez
14 goals and a season average of 7.45 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
Alejandro Vergaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.84. 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match15 Mar 2036
A 1‑0 win over Triestina, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
The chances came and went for Lorenzo De Leo
17 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad17 Mar 2036
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Feb 2036
A 2-goal lead gone for Renate
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Dolomiti Bellunesi kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Renate will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings18 Feb 2036
Age has not caught Anton Baidal yet — 8.56
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match16 Feb 2036
No end in sight to Renate's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Renate has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Tempers go at Renate
Franco Meritello 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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Javier Pérez
11 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings18 Feb 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match16 Feb 2036
No clean sheets in sight for Renate
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad18 Feb 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Raigi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jan 2036
A hiding for Renate
Beaten 2‑5 by Cittadella, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
A brace, and Giorgio Pietropoli takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giorgio Pietropoli provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jan 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match26 Jan 2036
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Renate and Cittadella in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
The manager makes an example of Corrado Riviera
“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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
6 goals and a season average of 7.37. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Tempers go at Renate
Gonçalo Sousa 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Jan 2036
A 2-goal lead gone for Renate
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Ospitaletto kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Renate will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad21 Jan 2036
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Tempers go at Renate
Lorenzo De Leo 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 Jan 2036
13 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
Marked 9.38 — 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.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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 ratings21 Jan 2036
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Match19 Jan 2036
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Jan 2036
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Jan 2036
There were 7 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
11 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Marked 9.72 — 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match12 Jan 2036
The run at home goes on for Renate
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Marked 8.85 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The terraces14 Jan 2036
At 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2036
There were 8 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.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Renate
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match5 Jan 2036
4 matches without a win for Renate
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Renate are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Jan 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marián Chobot and Renate agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
The owner puts $548.1K into Renate
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
Renate cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad7 Jan 2036
11 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Successful dribbles: 18. 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
Uneasy
Squad31 Dec 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market31 Dec 2035
“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.
Market31 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Renate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Dec 2035
“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 Dec 2035
Ivan Veselkov 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 ratings31 Dec 2035
Marked 7.94. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
Shots: 12, 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
Squad24 Dec 2035
There were 10 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.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.08, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Dec 2035
Nobody wins at Renate
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match22 Dec 2035
The goal that put Alcione Milano ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Renate equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Match22 Dec 2035
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Shots: 13. 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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
“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
Upbeat
Squad17 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Defences have started doubling up on Javier Pérez
9 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match15 Dec 2035
Arzignano left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom17 Dec 2035
The Renate debt reaches $24.1M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad17 Dec 2035
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Francesco Raigi knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Shots: 16, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market17 Dec 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alejandro Vergaz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
The one thing Javier Pérez could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Nov 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Nov 2035
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Renate found something the first half had given no notice of, and Vicenza could not hold what they had.
Squad26 Nov 2035
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match24 Nov 2035
Vicenza made Renate work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Alejandro Vergaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Veselkov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Nov 2035
A hiding for Renate
Beaten 1‑5 by Lecco, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad19 Nov 2035
“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.
Match17 Nov 2035
6 goals as Renate and Lecco go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Renate and Lecco, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Ivan Veselkov 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
The manager makes an example of Corrado Riviera
“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 terraces19 Nov 2035
At 23 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.
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
Ninety minutes of Javier Pérez at his very best
Marked 8.81. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Renate.
Boardroom19 Nov 2035
The Renate debt reaches $24.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Nov 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces12 Nov 2035
Anger at Renate spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Marián Chobot, 36, rolls back the years — 9.09
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.09 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 Nov 2035
Still nobody has beaten Renate
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Tempers go at Renate
Franco Meritello 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 Nov 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings12 Nov 2035
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Match10 Nov 2035
It finished 1‑0, and it was Marián Chobot’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Renate.
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Oct 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Filip Nechita damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Age has not caught Anton Baidal yet — 8.91
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Tempers go at Renate
Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings29 Oct 2035
A performance of 9.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match27 Oct 2035
It finished 3‑1, and it was Anton Baidal’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Renate.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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.
Match27 Oct 2035
Renate settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. AlbinoLeffe spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces15 Oct 2035
Anger at Renate spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Filip Nechita damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
There were 6 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.
Market15 Oct 2035
Franco Verdi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Renate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings15 Oct 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.95, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces15 Oct 2035
Renate supporters have found a favourite in Javier Pérez
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Javier Pérez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings15 Oct 2035
A performance of 8.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Oct 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Filip Nechita damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad8 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
Marked 9.33 — 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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
$754.9K of the owner's money at Renate
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
No signings allowed at Renate
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Sep 2035
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Renate will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Sep 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Filip Nechita
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Renate
Franco Meritello 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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 ratings10 Sep 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Sep 2035
Three points for Renate, 2‑1 the final word against Ospitaletto in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings10 Sep 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.69, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
Renate cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
123% of the income goes out in wages at Renate
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Filip Nechita
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
Renate cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
127% of the income goes out in wages at Renate
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad13 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Ivan Veselkov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Veselkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Filip Nechita
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Tempers go at Renate
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Veselkov 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2035
Wages eat 142% of everything Renate 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.
Market16 Jul 2035
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jun 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Tempers go at Renate
Franco Meritello 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
129% of the income goes out in wages at Renate
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad18 Jun 2035
68 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market18 Jun 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alejandro Vergaz signs something — a contract at Renate or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad21 May 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 May 2035
Wages eat 134% of everything Renate 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.
Squad21 May 2035
“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.
Market21 May 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alejandro Vergaz signs something — a contract at Renate or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad21 May 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.