Marked for Flavio Fuscaldi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
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.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
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.
Market8 Sep 2031
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market8 Sep 2031
“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.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 12 in, 12 out at Molodechno
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
Molodechno had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Uladzimir Arlouski commits to Molodechno for another 4 years.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
The offer went to Dinamo Minsk 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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Daniil Prokopchuk 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.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Sep 2031
“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 ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
$23.0K settles it between the clubs for Yan Stasevich
BATE have accepted the money. What Molodechno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market1 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molodechno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Uladzimir Arlouski 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.
Match30 Aug 2031
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 targets1 Sep 2031
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.
Match30 Aug 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uladzimir Arlouski. 1‑0 against Minsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Aug 2031
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match16 Aug 2031
6 matches without a win for Molodechno
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Molodechno are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Aug 2031
“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.
Match16 Aug 2031
6 matches without a goal for Molodechno
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
The offer went to Dinamo Brest 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Uladzimir Arlouski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Maxim Yablonskiy 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 ratings18 Aug 2031
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.
Match16 Aug 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Aug 2031
0‑3 to Volna Pinsk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
185 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Molodechno know exactly what they have.
Market4 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molodechno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match2 Aug 2031
The wait goes on for Molodechno
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Yurchenko commits to Molodechno for another 2 years.
Match2 Aug 2031
The goals have deserted Molodechno
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Molodechno can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Maxim Yablonskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Jun 2031
The wait goes on for Molodechno
19 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.
The terraces30 Jun 2031
Anger at Molodechno 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.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Molodechno
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Molodechno is running low.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Uladzimir Arlouski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Molodechno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Yablonskiy 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 targets30 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Molodechno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Jun 2031
Neman left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 May 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ridgeciano Haps
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audace Cerignola lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 May 2030
“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 Audace Cerignola, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 May 2030
Gustavo Veiga has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audace Cerignola they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 May 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Diego Gambale
17 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad20 May 2030
Kevin Lasagna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Buglio 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.
Boardroom20 May 2030
Wages swallow 103% of the Audace Cerignola income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings20 May 2030
A mark of 7.73, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 May 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ridgeciano Haps
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audace Cerignola lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 May 2030
A season average of 7.56 with 22 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market13 May 2030
Galo Avendaño 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 Audace Cerignola can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout13 May 2030
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The dugout13 May 2030
“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.
Market13 May 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Audace Cerignola is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 May 2030
Giovanni Volpe 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
Squad11 Mar 2030
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Audace Cerignola lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Mar 2030
“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.
Market11 Mar 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audace Cerignola they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Kevin Lasagna 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Volpe 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Greco, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Forli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Audace Cerignola is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market4 Feb 2030
“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.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Audace Cerignola 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
A season average of 7.42 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match2 Feb 2030
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market4 Feb 2030
Only the photograph left for Gustavo Veiga
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gustavo Veiga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audace Cerignola the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Kevin Lasagna 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Buglio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Galo Avendaño is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Audace Cerignola will try not to make too much of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jan 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Audace Cerignola have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad7 Jan 2030
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 Audace Cerignola have had the benefit of it.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Lorenzo Paolucci 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 ratings7 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Jan 2030
After 4 games, Audace Cerignola finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Casertana; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Giovanni Volpe named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Giovanni Volpe is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market7 Jan 2030
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Audace Cerignola has been clear about where Ludovico D'Orazio stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Stefano Greco knocks on the manager’s door
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The dugout
When it matters, Francesco Sena plays