“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 The request is on a desk at Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giugliano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Audace Cerignola defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Scaravilli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giugliano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paolo Ruggiero after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Jacopo Romio 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.
Kıvanç Şeker is 19, and Giugliano have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
This is not rotation. Ciro Panico has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Giugliano is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
Giugliano asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jacopo Romio 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.
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 Mattia Rigo is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Salernitana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giugliano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giugliano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Giugliano until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Murilo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cittadella have kept their man, and Giugliano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriele Guarino, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Forli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AS Roma keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Forli have done the hard part with Cavese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Forli asked and Cavese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$93.0K settles it between the clubs for Davide Lendel
Sassuolo have accepted the money. What Forli do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Sassuolo 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.
Tommaso Ferrari 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 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 clubs have shaken hands with Modena; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Forli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atalanta keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Lazio 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.
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo Sami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Forli are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AS Roma keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bence Csanádi has, at Forli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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.
Alessandro Orlandi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Forli can pretend not to have heard.
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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.
“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; Forli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Squad22 May 2028
Eduardo Sami 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Forli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Rossi signs something — a contract at Forli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Tommaso Ferrari 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Rossi signs something — a contract at Forli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Forli would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Tommaso Ferrari 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 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Forli, another week without a signature from Rosario Diletto.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Forli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ravenna in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Forli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Forli know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jacopo Romio 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Forli told Luca Martelli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Forli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Filippo Ercolani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and Forli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Forli can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Audace Cerignola for Giulio Veliaj was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Forli have gone to AC Milan 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.
“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; Forli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Campobasso were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tommaso Ferrari 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Orlandi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout1 Nov 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 Silvio Tarantino to a room that had heard them before.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Forli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Martelli signs something — a contract at Forli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Forli know it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Romio, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Silvio Tarantino chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nicola Farinelli may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Forli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bari keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The clubs have shaken hands with Torino; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Forli can pretend not to have heard.
Forli have gone to Ascoli 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.
Forli offered $14.0K; Ascoli said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Scaccabarozzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Forli know it.
Forli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Elia Petrelli has come up in conversations Forli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Forli asked and Pescara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Forli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Rossi knocks on the manager's door
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rosario Diletto is living that version at Forli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Forli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Forli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Forli asked and Pescara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.