Marked for Lautaro Busto
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout14 Apr 2036
Juan Raffaelli: 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.” Algeciras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 Apr 2036
Kevin Garcia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Algeciras they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Corrado Riviera 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 Apr 2036
Lautaro Busto 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 dugout14 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Horaţiu Moldovan, and the manager let it.
Match12 Apr 2036
0‑2 to Atlético Madrileño, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julen Gallardo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market14 Apr 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Algeciras, another week without a signature from Jerónimo Álvarez.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Algeciras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corrado Riviera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Algeciras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Lautaro Busto
“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.
Market31 Mar 2036
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Algeciras know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market31 Mar 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Algeciras, another week without a signature from Harri Pugh.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
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.
Market31 Mar 2036
Still no signature from Mateo Pérez
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Algeciras could get for him.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Aimar Diez 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 Aimar Diez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
Algeciras keep producing them
95 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Mar 2036
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.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
This is not rotation. Araña has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Algeciras is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Algeciras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corrado Riviera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Algeciras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Mar 2036
A 1‑0 win over Real Murcia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
Santino Gallardo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
Mateo Pérez gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Julen Gallardo on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
Aimar Diez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Kevin Garcia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Garcia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Algeciras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Corrado Riviera falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Lautaro Busto 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 dugout17 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Horaţiu Moldovan, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Mar 2036
The decline has begun for Emir Karić
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Algeciras is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julen Gallardo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market17 Mar 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Algeciras, another week without a signature from Jerónimo Álvarez.
Market17 Mar 2036
No place for Kevin Garcia in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kevin Garcia has his answer from Algeciras; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match23 Feb 2036
The run at home goes on for Algeciras
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
This is not rotation. Araña has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Algeciras is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Juan Raffaelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Feb 2036
A row about effort at Algeciras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corrado Riviera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces25 Feb 2036
Algeciras supporters have found a favourite in Araña
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Araña 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.
Match23 Feb 2036
It finished 2‑0, and it was Juanma Lendínez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Algeciras.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
A masterclass from Araña
Marked 8.63 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Feb 2036
Nowhere to hide for Algeciras
0‑3 against Huesca, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market18 Feb 2036
Only the photograph left for Kevin Garcia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Garcia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Algeciras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Words exchanged at Algeciras
Juan Raffaelli 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.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Corrado Riviera 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 dugout18 Feb 2036
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad18 Feb 2036
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Boardroom18 Feb 2036
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Feb 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Víctor Herrera and Algeciras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jan 2036
Eldense come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Algeciras did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market28 Jan 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Algeciras have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.06, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market28 Jan 2036
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Algeciras, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
This is not rotation. Araña has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Algeciras is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
Algeciras had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Barcelona, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words at Algeciras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corrado Riviera 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 targets28 Jan 2036
Algeciras asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Algeciras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Dec 2035
Only the photograph left for Simón Comesaña
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simón Comesaña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Algeciras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Dec 2035
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom17 Dec 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Juan Raffaelli 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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Corrado Riviera 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 ratings17 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Algeciras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corrado Riviera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Lautaro Busto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings10 Dec 2035
Ninety minutes of Corrado Riviera at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Algeciras.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Stojanović, and the manager let it.
Match8 Dec 2035
A goal on 85 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Market10 Dec 2035
“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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
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.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
“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
Steady
Match27 Oct 2035
The wait goes on for Algeciras
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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words exchanged at Algeciras
Juan Raffaelli 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Simón Comesaña 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 ratings29 Oct 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match27 Oct 2035
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad29 Oct 2035
No place for Lautaro Busto in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Algeciras are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Match27 Oct 2035
It needed Corrado Riviera to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mirandés, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Julen Gallardo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Jacobo Martí beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Oct 2035
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Algeciras lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad22 Oct 2035
A move Lautaro Busto would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lautaro Busto is living that version at Algeciras, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market22 Oct 2035
“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 Algeciras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Corrado Riviera falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Match20 Oct 2035
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market22 Oct 2035
“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 dugout22 Oct 2035
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.” Julen Gallardo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2035
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with Cagliari, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
Cagliari wanted more than $780.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad29 Jan 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emanuele Lorenzelli and Salernitana agree another 3 years.
The terraces29 Jan 2035
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Baraldi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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 targets22 Jan 2035
$780.0K was the most the club would pay and Inter were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto 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.
Squad22 Jan 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mattias Larsson commits to Salernitana for another 3 years.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arezzo have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match20 Jan 2035
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings22 Jan 2035
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. 12 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad22 Jan 2035
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Jan 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lautaro Busto
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Jan 2035
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings15 Jan 2035
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
$270.0K settles it between the clubs for Federico Agazzi
Juve Stabia have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto 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 targets15 Jan 2035
Salernitana have gone to Pianese 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.
Match13 Jan 2035
Still nobody has beaten Salernitana
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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match13 Jan 2035
Three points for Salernitana, 1‑0 the final word against Sampdoria in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Jan 2035
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto 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 Salernitana can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salernitana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with Cosenza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Klimek 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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Ettore Quirini named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ettore Quirini is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabrizio Mariani, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Salernitana dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jan 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lautaro Busto
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Jan 2035
Mattia Bozza 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 Salernitana can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Jan 2035
Valentino Borghi, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salernitana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Lautaro Busto 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 terraces1 Jan 2035
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match30 Dec 2034
Sorrento made Salernitana work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Jan 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jan Klimek and Salernitana agree another 1 years.
Market1 Jan 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salernitana, another week without a signature from Gianluca Germinario.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Dec 2034
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Dec 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Dec 2034
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Dec 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Longoni, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Dec 2034
Ninety minutes of Ettore Quirini at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Salernitana.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Battaglia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings25 Dec 2034
Mattia Tascone did the work nobody counts — 6.97
9 combined actions and 6.97. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Match25 Dec 2034
Half the programme played, position 13, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Match23 Dec 2034
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Dec 2034
Lautaro Busto damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Market18 Dec 2034
“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 dugout18 Dec 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salernitana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Dec 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Jan Klimek 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 dugout18 Dec 2034
“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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Salernitana 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.
Player ratings18 Dec 2034
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.29 on the card, and the Salernitana support went home talking about one name.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Match
Point won or two lost for Salernitana?
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Market
Still no signature from Lautaro Busto
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Dec 2034
Lautaro Busto damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Market11 Dec 2034
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Dec 2034
Only the photograph left for Lautaro Busto
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Busto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Salernitana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match9 Dec 2034
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The terraces11 Dec 2034
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match9 Dec 2034
A 1‑0 win over Casarano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Jan Klimek 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.
Squad11 Dec 2034
“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 Salernitana know it.
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
Marked 7.87 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Salernitana had the best player on the pitch.
In brief
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Boardroom
88% of the income goes out in wages at Salernitana
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The dugout
No hiding place for Mattia Vitale
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2034
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match2 Dec 2034
8 matches without a win for Salernitana
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Salernitana are no longer polite ones.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salernitana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Dec 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Salernitana can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Dec 2034
“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; Salernitana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Lautaro Busto 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.
Match2 Dec 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Filippo Battaglia 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
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2034
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Nov 2034
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Emanuele Lorenzelli will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Salernitana escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Match25 Nov 2034
No end in sight to Salernitana's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Salernitana has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings27 Nov 2034
A defender's goal wins it for Salernitana — 7.48
1 for Emanuele Lorenzelli, marked 7.48, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
“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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Lautaro Busto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Longoni, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Jan Klimek 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.
Match25 Nov 2034
It needed Emanuele Lorenzelli to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Carrarese, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2034
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Jan Klimek 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 Nov 2034
Mattia Bozza 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.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Too much change too quickly at Salernitana
7 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.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Nov 2034
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Salernitana money.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
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.
Market20 Nov 2034
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mattia Tascone signs something — a contract at Salernitana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Nov 2034
“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
Uneasy
Squad13 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lautaro Busto
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Nov 2034
Lautaro Busto has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salernitana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market13 Nov 2034
“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.
Match11 Nov 2034
6 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2034
Mattia Bozza ran the middle of the pitch — 7.10
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 7.10, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Lautaro Busto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings13 Nov 2034
Cristiano Di Zio did the work nobody counts — 6.92
12 combined actions and 6.92. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Battaglia 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 dugout13 Nov 2034
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Nov 2034
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Nov 2034
Salernitana are in real trouble now
Position 14, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match4 Nov 2034
No end in sight to Salernitana's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Salernitana has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Mattia Tascone 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.
Squad6 Nov 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jan Klimek and Salernitana agree another 1 years.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Busto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match4 Nov 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
The manager makes an example of Stefano Baraldi
“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.
Market6 Nov 2034
“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
The dugout30 Oct 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salernitana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match28 Oct 2034
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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Busto 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.
Match28 Oct 2034
1‑2 to Monopoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
The manager makes an example of Lautaro Busto
“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.
Market30 Oct 2034
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stefano Baraldi has his answer from Salernitana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad30 Oct 2034
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market30 Oct 2034
“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.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Achille Vitale
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Oct 2034
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad23 Oct 2034
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Salernitana know which stage they are at.
Squad23 Oct 2034
5 new faces, and Salernitana are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Match21 Oct 2034
A 1‑1 draw with Picerno leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“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.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2034
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salernitana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Oct 2034
Lautaro Busto has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salernitana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom16 Oct 2034
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Lautaro Busto 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 2034
Filippo Battaglia 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 dugout16 Oct 2034
The manager makes an example of Luca Gozza
“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.
Squad16 Oct 2034
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.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
Mattia Vitale 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 Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
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 Fabrizio Pagani is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Achille Vitale
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings9 Oct 2034
The game went through Mattia Tascone — 7.23
Marked 7.23 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Lautaro Busto 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.
Match7 Oct 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Oct 2034
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout9 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renato Cassano, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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 dugout9 Oct 2034
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market9 Oct 2034
A stepping stone, not a home, for Ralf Lang
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Salernitana were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Achille Vitale
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Oct 2034
“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 Salernitana know it.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Stefano Baraldi 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 dugout2 Oct 2034
“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.
Match30 Sep 2034
0‑1 to Cremonese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Oct 2034
The medical room confirms 56 days on the sidelines for Sandro Coppola, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market2 Oct 2034
No place for Mattia Bozza in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mattia Bozza has his answer from Salernitana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market2 Oct 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salernitana, another week without a signature from Gianluca Germinario.
The dugout2 Oct 2034
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom25 Sep 2034
Salernitana interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Squad25 Sep 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Achille Vitale
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salernitana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Sep 2034
Potenza go through and Salernitana go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Gianluca Germinario and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Sep 2034
Three points for Salernitana, 2‑1 the final word against Padova in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Busto, and the manager let it.
Match23 Sep 2034
No time for Padova to settle
The goal that put Padova ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Salernitana equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
Salernitana offered $730.0K; Pisa 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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Lautaro Busto 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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
Salernitana asked and Casertana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Salernitana will try again when the window opens; AC Milan may not be selling by then.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Filippo Battaglia 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 dugout11 Sep 2034
“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.
Market11 Sep 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salernitana, another week without a signature from Lautaro Busto.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
The numbers do not look good at Salernitana
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 dugout11 Sep 2034
Stefano Baraldi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Sep 2034
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Salernitana rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Cavese had no answer to any of it.
Player ratings4 Sep 2034
A brace, and Roberto Capasso takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Capasso provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings4 Sep 2034
No sign of nerves from Valentino Borghi at 17 — 8.02
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Valentino Borghi did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2034
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with AC Milan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market4 Sep 2034
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Window shuts: 12 in, 15 out at Salernitana
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2034
$730.0K on the table at Pisa. 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 targets4 Sep 2034
Salernitana offered $1.1M; Cesena 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.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2034
The offer went to Cosenza 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets28 Aug 2034
$600.0K settles it between the clubs for Gianluca Gaetano
AS Roma have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout28 Aug 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salernitana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom28 Aug 2034
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2034
Salernitana have gone to Casertana 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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2034
Salernitana have gone to Torres 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.
Squad28 Aug 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Aug 2034
Still nobody in the Salernitana dugout
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2034
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.
Match26 Aug 2034
0‑1 to Sorrento, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom21 Aug 2034
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Boardroom21 Aug 2034
A stranger takes charge at Salernitana
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Boardroom21 Aug 2034
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2034
Everything agreed with Cesena, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2034
Salernitana have gone to Pisa 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.
Market21 Aug 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Salernitana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Lautaro Busto 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.
Boardroom21 Aug 2034
11 academy graduates step up at Salernitana
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets7 Aug 2034
$700.0K settles it between the clubs for Gennaro Colombo
Bologna have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2034
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Cesena were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2034
$72.0K on the table at Mantova. 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 targets7 Aug 2034
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 dugout7 Aug 2034
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2034
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.
Market7 Aug 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ettore Quirini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout7 Aug 2034
Mattia Bozza 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 Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Aug 2034
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Salernitana could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Jul 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Cesena; Salernitana go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2034
The clubs have shaken hands with Pisa; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market31 Jul 2034
“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.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2034
The paperwork begins on Petar Nemet
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with Pisa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Jul 2034
“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; Salernitana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad31 Jul 2034
Mattia Tascone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2034
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 dugout31 Jul 2034
The manager makes an example of Roberto Capasso
“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 dugout31 Jul 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2034
“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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2034
$1.1M settles it between the clubs for Achille Pellegrini
Cesena have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2034
The paperwork begins on Ted Cann
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with Atalanta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2034
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.
Squad24 Jul 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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.
Market24 Jul 2034
Salernitana have made Stefano Baraldi available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout24 Jul 2034
Stefano Baraldi 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 dugout24 Jul 2034
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 Valentino Borghi is on it.
The dugout24 Jul 2034
The manager makes Mattia Bozza a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Salernitana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jul 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Salernitana can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Lautaro Busto 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.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2034
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.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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.
Squad17 Jul 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Romano Monteleone commits to Salernitana for another 3 years.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2034
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.
The dugout17 Jul 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 Jul 2034
Cristiano Rocca 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.
Market17 Jul 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salernitana, another week without a signature from Carlos Diaz.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jul 2034
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2034
$87.0K settles it between the clubs for Gianluca Astaldi
Torres have accepted the money. What Salernitana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2034
Bologna wanted more than $750.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Lautaro Busto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2034
Salernitana asked and Casertana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Jul 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ettore Quirini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 Jul 2034
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.
Market10 Jul 2034
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lautaro Busto may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market10 Jul 2034
7 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Salernitana money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 2034
“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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2034
$230.0K on the table at Casertana. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Jul 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cesena have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Jul 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2034
7 new boys at the Salernitana academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout3 Jul 2034
Roberto Capasso has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Salernitana 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.
Squad3 Jul 2034
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Fabrizio Pagani is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market3 Jul 2034
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mattia Tascone signs something — a contract at Salernitana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets19 Jun 2034
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salernitana have done the hard part with Sassuolo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Salernitana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2034
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2034
A loan move for Seydou Fini is in the works
Salernitana have made the call to Genoa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout19 Jun 2034
Lautaro Busto 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 Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Jun 2034
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.
Market19 Jun 2034
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ciro Gargiulo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Salernitana.
Market19 Jun 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salernitana, another week without a signature from Amr Ghaly.
Market19 Jun 2034
The name of Renato Cassano keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Salernitana say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jun 2034
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
Salernitana offered $1.1M; Bologna 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.
Squad12 Jun 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salernitana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
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 dugout12 Jun 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabrizio Pagani, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jun 2034
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 dugout12 Jun 2034
Lautaro Busto 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 Lautaro Busto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Jun 2034
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Salernitana will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market12 Jun 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ettore Quirini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jun 2034
“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 Salernitana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2034
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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
Salernitana asked and Cesena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout5 Jun 2034
“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.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Carlo Conti slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Carlo Conti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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.
Market5 Jun 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salernitana, another week without a signature from Lautaro Busto.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
A loan move for Luca Cura is in the works
Salernitana have made the call to Lecce. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
Lecco 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
Steady
Market29 May 2034
Carlo Conti 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 Salernitana can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout29 May 2034
“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.
Squad29 May 2034
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Salernitana can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 May 2034
Lautaro Busto 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.
Squad29 May 2034
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Salernitana know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Boardroom29 May 2034
The numbers do not look good at Salernitana
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 dugout29 May 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salernitana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 May 2034
The Carlo Conti talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Salernitana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 May 2034
Valentino Borghi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Salernitana 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 2034
Lautaro Busto 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 dugout22 May 2034
“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.
Squad22 May 2034
Words at Salernitana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. a squad player 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 dugout22 May 2034
Something was said to Mandla Lorch and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout22 May 2034
Armando Anastasio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Salernitana 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.
The dugout22 May 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Cristiano Rocca'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.