Marked for Lautaro Valiente
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Everything agreed with Lecco, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
The numbers do not look good at Alcione Milano
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palermo have kept their man, and Alcione Milano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Alberto Stegman 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 targets18 Jun 2029
A loan move for Briajan Gjyla is in the works
Alcione Milano have made the call to Juve Stabia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Atalanta: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Valiente, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
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 Gabriele Platto is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alcione Milano can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Alcione Milano have done the hard part with Sambenedettese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jacopo Lanzi 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Gabriele Platto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Simone Curzi for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Alcione Milano will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
“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.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
Atalanta 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
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
Steady
The dugout21 May 2029
Lautaro Valiente: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alcione Milano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 May 2029
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout21 May 2029
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.
The dugout21 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Kevin Romero
“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 dugout21 May 2029
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
Steady
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alcione Milano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 May 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Samuele Parlati for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Alcione Milano will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout14 May 2029
This is not rotation. Alberto Stegman has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Alcione Milano is pretending otherwise.
Squad14 May 2029
A season average of 7.15 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Alcione Milano know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad14 May 2029
Gabriele Platto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 May 2029
Mattia Lione gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 May 2029
“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.
Market14 May 2029
The Simone Curzi story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simone Curzi signs something — a contract at Alcione Milano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout14 May 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alcione Milano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giorgio Galli commits to Alcione Milano for another 2 years.
Market7 May 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alberto Stegman has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Alcione Milano.
Squad7 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Valiente, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 May 2029
Jonathan Pitou 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 Alcione Milano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout7 May 2029
Lautaro Valiente 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.
Market7 May 2029
“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.
Squad7 May 2029
Jonathan Pitou has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Squad7 May 2029
“I want to play”: Mattia Lione speaks
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
No sign of nerves from Gabriele Platto at 21 — 7.90
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriele Platto did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Gabriele Platto 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simone Curzi and Alcione Milano agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match7 Apr 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Simone Messina after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Alcione Milano lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Lautaro Valiente 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Mattia Lione gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
Gabriele Platto 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Curzi and Alcione Milano agree another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The formation has left Luka Caculović behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Alcione Milano will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Gabriele Platto
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gabriele Platto has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alcione Milano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Valiente, and the manager let it.
Market2 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alcione Milano, another week without a signature from Luka Caculović.
Market2 Apr 2029
Luka Caculović is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Daniil Borisov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Borisov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Jan 2029
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Alcione Milano scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Gabriele Platto, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.60
A mark of 9.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad8 Jan 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Alcione Milano have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match2 Jan 2029
A 4‑3 win over Pro Patria, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Gabriele Platto 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 targets8 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bari have kept their man, and Alcione Milano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Gabriele Platto, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A season average of 7.09 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Alcione Milano know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Gabriele Platto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
Wages swallow 119% of the Alcione Milano 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.
Market25 Dec 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.
Match23 Dec 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout25 Dec 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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2028
Gabriele Platto 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 dugout18 Dec 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.
Match16 Dec 2028
Virtus Verona left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Dec 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Looking ahead18 Dec 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Renate in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The plan did not have a place for Jacopo Lanzi
Nobody at Alcione Milano is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market18 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Simone Curzi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Gabriele Platto 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. Alcione Milano will try not to make too much of it.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Gabriele Platto
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gabriele Platto has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alcione Milano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Lanzi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The numbers do not look good at Alcione Milano
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Dimitris Irodotou 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 dugout4 Dec 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alcione Milano, another week without a signature from Jacopo Lanzi.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
Gabriele Platto 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
Mattia Lione gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paolo Chierichetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad20 Nov 2028
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Alcione Milano will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Simone Curzi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market20 Nov 2028
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Alcione Milano could get for him.
Squad20 Nov 2028
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Alcione Milano the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Next up on the road: Novara, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Nov 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Gabriele Platto, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match11 Nov 2028
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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Gabriele Platto 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match11 Nov 2028
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Something was said to Joël Schingtienne and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Simone Messina to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Oct 2028
Gabriele Platto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Oct 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Irodotou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Wages eat 118% of everything Alcione Milano earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Oct 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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Gabriele Platto, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Alcione Milano would like this to lead.
Squad30 Oct 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Alcione Milano have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Oct 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 Alcione Milano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Alberto Stegman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Irodotou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Lione, and the manager let it.
Market16 Oct 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alcione Milano, another week without a signature from Mattia Lione.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Jonathan Pitou has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market16 Oct 2028
The Simone Curzi talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alcione Milano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Alcione Milano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marco Melchionda and Alcione Milano agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Marco Melchionda 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 targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Como have kept their man, and Alcione Milano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Alcione Milano are still strangers to each other
6 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Alcione Milano know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market11 Sep 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jacopo Lanzi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Alcione Milano.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Alcione Milano now.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Borisov, and the manager let it.
Market11 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Alcione Milano 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Matías Ormart 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 dugout17 Jul 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.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan move for Nicolò Baldo is in the works
Alcione Milano have made the call to Vis Pesaro. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Avellino 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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Matías Ormart knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Ormart trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Alcione Milano will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
Simone Palombi 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 dugout15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Lanzi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Alcione Milano
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad15 May 2028
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Alcione Milano would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout15 May 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout15 May 2028
Simone Curzi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simone Curzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marco Melchionda and Alcione Milano agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Marco Melchionda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Pitou
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
Mario Vitale makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad8 May 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Alcione Milano has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market8 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Apr 2028
Beaten 1‑4 by Triestina, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Mattia Lione, 21, steals the show — 8.11
Marked 8.11 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout24 Apr 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Mauro Aguirre 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 terraces24 Apr 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattia Lione 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Pro Patria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Alberto Stegman
“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.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Nobody left the Alcione Milano dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Apr 2028
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Renate will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match15 Apr 2028
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Renate were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
A 2‑1 win over Renate, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Pitou 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Simone Messina kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Market17 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matías Ormart has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Alcione Milano.
The dugout17 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Alcione Milano are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Lanzi
“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 dugout10 Apr 2028
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.” Simone Messina chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match8 Apr 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Virtus Verona defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead10 Apr 2028
Renate next, and one man in the Alcione Milano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Jonathan Pitou 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 Alcione Milano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Alcione Milano are no longer polite ones.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Pietro Vignali: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alcione Milano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Apr 2028
Pergolettese left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Apr 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 0‑1 Simone Messina left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mauricio Nievas 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alcione Milano told Simone Curzi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Kevin Romero
“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
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
88 days out for Matías Ormart after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alcione Milano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Dec 2027
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mauro Aguirre and Alcione Milano agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Simone Curzi 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Daniil Borisov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Daniil Borisov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alcione Milano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Lanzi
“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
Uneasy
Match16 Oct 2027
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and AlbinoLeffe were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Samuele Parlati was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Simone Curzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Simone Messina kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Lanzi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout18 Oct 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
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 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 Alcione Milano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Alcione Milano close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 19 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
An order from above at Alcione Milano: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emerick Lopes is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Simone Palombi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets6 Sep 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.
The dugout6 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.
Squad6 Sep 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; Alcione Milano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Alcione Milano asked and Südtirol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout9 Aug 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“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 Alcione Milano know it.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Modena: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Alberto Stegman asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes Matías Ormart a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Alcione Milano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.