Marked for Alejandro Cichero
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Carrarese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The offer went to Como this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tiziano Suánez 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gubbio know it.
Market14 Aug 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
A loan move for Jesper Karlsson is in the works
Gubbio have made the call to Bologna. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Arezzo have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jul 2028
$890.0K from Livorno for Titas Krapikas. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad17 Jul 2028
67 days out for Giacomo Rosaia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gubbio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
Gubbio sell a favourite for $890.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Titas Krapikas was one of the reasons people came, and $890.0K does not replace that by itself.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Gubbio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Di Massimo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market17 Jul 2028
The phone has started ringing about Valerio Conti again, and this time the name on the line is Campobasso. Gubbio are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market17 Jul 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Pescara have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Jul 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 Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Atalanta, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Venezia is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Gubbio asked and Palermo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Di Massimo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Francesco Zallu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Giacomo Rosaia knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Jul 2028
The name of Lorenzo Podda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gubbio say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
84 days out for Giacomo Rosaia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Jul 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Jul 2028
Livorno come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gubbio did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
$230.0K on the table at Spezia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiziano Suánez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Lautaro Valiente has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Venezia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad3 Jul 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alejandro Cichero has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jun 2028
99 days out for Giacomo Rosaia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Jun 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gubbio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Alejandro Cichero's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Lorenzo Podda knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Daniel Frey has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gubbio will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
Mattia Alberti damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The dugout22 May 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.
Market22 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 May 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero 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.
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Gubbio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Valiente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Alejandro Cichero's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout22 May 2028
Daniel Frey has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gubbio will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mattia Alberti
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Gubbio
Marco Spina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Alessio Di Massimo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout15 May 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gubbio told Tommaso Ghirardello something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout15 May 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout15 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 May 2028
The name of Lorenzo Podda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gubbio say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Gubbio would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 May 2028
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 May 2028
A fracture rules Federico Carraro out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea La Mantia and Gubbio agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Market8 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gubbio, another week without a signature from Francesco Zallu.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Gubbio
Nicola Murru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Alessio Di Massimo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Alejandro Cichero is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Marson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
When it matters, Daniel Frey plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market24 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gubbio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market24 Apr 2028
Gubbio have let the market know Alejandro Cichero can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Apr 2028
55 days out for Federico Carraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match1 Apr 2028
4 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Andrea La Mantia scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Pineto, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout3 Apr 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jacopo Peretti after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nicolò Fazzi gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicolò Fazzi is on it.
Looking ahead3 Apr 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessio Di Massimo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gubbio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Marco Spina 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 Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Di Massimo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
A promise honoured at Gubbio
Something was said to Federico Carraro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Spina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gubbio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Zallu signs something — a contract at Gubbio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market27 Mar 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alejandro Cichero may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
76 days out for Federico Carraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Alessio Di Massimo 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 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Mar 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.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Alejandro Cichero is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Gubbio lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2028
91 days out for Federico Carraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match26 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea La Mantia. 2‑0 against Forli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Marked 7.68. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Gubbio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Valiente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Jacopo Peretti could afford to be generous.
The dugout28 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
98 days out for Federico Carraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Feb 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 Feb 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Torres left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea La Mantia, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Jacopo Peretti left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Giacomo Rosaia will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Federico Carraro out for 105 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A brace, and Andrea La Mantia takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrea La Mantia provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match12 Feb 2028
The drought breaks for Gubbio
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Perugia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
The clock did what Genoa would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match12 Feb 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Andrea La Mantia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gubbio.
The dugout14 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.40, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jacopo Peretti, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Jan 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 Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Torino, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match15 Jan 2028
4 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Gubbio
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Arezzo wanted more than $63.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match15 Jan 2028
A bad afternoon for Gubbio against Ravenna
0‑1 to Ravenna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jan 2028
148 days out for Federico Carraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Jan 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Nicola Murru 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 Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Ghirardello, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Marked 7.61. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
A loan enquiry to Pisa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Dec 2027
156 days out for Federico Carraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Marson, and the manager let it.
Match25 Dec 2027
0‑1 to Vis Pesaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Dec 2027
The half-term report on Gubbio
Position 9, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jacopo Peretti to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Gubbio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Valiente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“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
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match11 Dec 2027
4 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Match11 Dec 2027
3 matches without a goal for Gubbio
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Alessio Di Massimo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Giacomo Rosaia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jacopo Peretti after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Manuel Ferrini
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Match4 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Ghirardello, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jacopo Peretti after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Gubbio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Valiente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alejandro Cichero is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Nov 2027
A hiding for Gubbio
Beaten 0‑3 by Pescara, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Alessio Di Massimo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Lucio Zanelli
“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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Doors closed at Gubbio
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Jacopo Peretti left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gubbio told Raffaele Cantisani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Marco Spina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match30 Oct 2027
Still nobody has beaten Gubbio
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Di Massimo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Ghirardello 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Torres made Gubbio work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Nov 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Marked 7.57 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gubbio had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
A promise honoured at Gubbio
Something was said to Marco Spina and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Lautaro Valiente falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jacopo Peretti was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gubbio dressing room was either.
Match23 Oct 2027
Point won or two lost for Gubbio?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Perugia? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market25 Oct 2027
The name of Francesco Zallu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gubbio say nothing, which says plenty.
Market25 Oct 2027
Gubbio have let the market know Abdelhakim Omrani can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Lautaro Valiente falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Raffaele Cantisani is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
4.15 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Abdelhakim Omrani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Gubbio ran out of time with Bologna. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Gubbio asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match11 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Lautaro Valiente 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Aug 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Francesco Zallu delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Francesco Zallu scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Renate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Gubbio asked and Pisa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match28 Aug 2027
Francesco Zallu scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Livorno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Ghirardello, and the manager let it.
Market30 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Nicolò Baldo again, and this time the name on the line is Kastrioti Krujë. Gubbio are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
$760.0K. No player has ever cost Gubbio more, and expectation arrives with him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market19 Jul 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
$760.0K for Nicolò Baldo, and Gubbio supporters approve
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Nicolò Baldo from Atalanta for $760.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 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 Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdelhakim Omrani, and the manager let it.
Market19 Jul 2027
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
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
Federico Carraro damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The deal with Atalanta is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marco Spina and Gubbio agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gubbio have gone to Pescara with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Filippo Tani arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Filippo Tani has, at Gubbio, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Emanuele Riolfi from Virtus Entella for $180.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gubbio asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Alejandro Cichero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Carraro
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Virtus Entella; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Alessio Di Massimo 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market5 Jul 2027
A season away well spent by Marco Spina
29 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Gubbio now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Market5 Jul 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Gubbio signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Gubbio
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Gubbio academy
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Frosinone
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Angelo Iannuzzi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Jun 2027
KAA Gent come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Frosinone did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Frosinone people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout7 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Frosinone can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
Romano Schmid wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Frosinone hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alejandro Cichero has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Frosinone are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
Federico Carraro damages knee ligaments — 76 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriele Costa 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
José Núñez 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Gubbio have made the call to KV Kortrijk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Otis Caporusso is in the works
Gubbio have made the call to OGC Nice. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Giacomo Rosaia is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.