Marked for Andrea Caleffi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Livorno
23 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad19 Mar 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 Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Nana Welbeck 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nana Welbeck, and the manager let it.
Match17 Mar 2029
Arezzo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market19 Mar 2029
The name of Nana Welbeck keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Livorno say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
5.59. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Dec 2028
The wait goes on for Livorno
12 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.
Match1 Jan 2029
Livorno are in real trouble now
Position 18, 4 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Nana Welbeck 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Federico Marchesi 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.
Match30 Dec 2028
Ternana left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Federico Papini has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Livorno.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Livorno told Nana Welbeck something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
Lorenzo Malagrida damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Match9 Dec 2028
9 matches without a win for Livorno
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Livorno are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Dec 2028
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad11 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 Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Nana Welbeck 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.
Match9 Dec 2028
Pianese left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2028
Lorenzo Malagrida damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Match4 Dec 2028
Livorno sink to position 18
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match2 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Livorno's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Livorno has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicola Falasco and Livorno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Livorno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nana Welbeck 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Moses Odjer 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 ratings4 Dec 2028
Riccardo Capparella was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.54. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
Lorenzo Malagrida damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
0‑3 to Vis Pesaro, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Pressure builds in the Livorno boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad30 Oct 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Nana Welbeck 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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Nobody left the Livorno 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 ratings30 Oct 2028
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Livorno, and it is a cruel one.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Oct 2028
Lorenzo Malagrida damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from Andrea Caleffi at 21 — 8.25
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrea Caleffi did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Mario Noce 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
Mattia Golin 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 terraces16 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrea Caleffi 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Riccardo Capparella’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Livorno.
Squad16 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Oct 2028
Lorenzo Malagrida damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Livorno's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Livorno has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Livorno
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nana Welbeck and Livorno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Oct 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 Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nana Welbeck 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
3 matches without a goal for Livorno
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match30 Sep 2028
A bad afternoon for Livorno against Carpi
0‑1 to Carpi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lorenzo Malagrida
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livorno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑5 by Pontedera, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
No sign of nerves from Andrea Caleffi at 21 — 7.64
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrea Caleffi did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Livorno's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Livorno has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A first appearance Edoardo Sturli will want to forget — 5.46
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.46, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Match9 Sep 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Livorno and Pontedera in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Nana Welbeck 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 Sep 2028
Moses Odjer in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Nana Welbeck
“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
The terraces31 Jul 2028
The mood at Livorno has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Livorno
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Livorno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Federico Papini 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Livorno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nana Welbeck 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Cheikh Niasse damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
Hellas Verona 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.
Squad19 Jun 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: São Paulo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kieron Bowie. The answer from Hellas Verona has not changed — yet.
Market19 Jun 2028
Abdou Harroui has left for Cosenza in a $2.5M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Kieron Bowie in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hellas Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Antoine Bernede 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.
Loan watch19 Jun 2028
“I watch every Hellas Verona game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pescara runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.