Marked for Filippo Monguzzi
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad20 May 2030
A season average of 7.65 with 49 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings20 May 2030
A brace, and Simone Lontani takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simone Lontani provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match18 May 2030
Nobody wants to play Lecco right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings20 May 2030
No sign of nerves from Ettore Broggian at 21 — 7.90
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ettore Broggian did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad20 May 2030
A falling-out at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 May 2030
It finished 3‑1, and it was Simone Lontani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lecco.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Blini 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 terraces20 May 2030
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.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Oliver Blini did the work nobody counts — 7.28
9 combined actions and 7.28. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Mar 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Filip Marchwiński
32 goals and a season average of 7.52 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match9 Mar 2030
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match9 Mar 2030
Lecco make home a hard place to visit
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market11 Mar 2030
Nicolò Tondi 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 Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Mar 2030
Still nobody has beaten Lecco
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Tempers go at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Di Gesù 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 terraces11 Mar 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Feb 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Filip Marchwiński
31 goals and a season average of 7.50 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match16 Feb 2030
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Cittadella had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Lecco did not stop to explain themselves.
Match16 Feb 2030
Still nobody has beaten Lecco
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Feb 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Marchwiński. 1‑0 against Cittadella, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Filippo Monguzzi 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 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Samuele Paro kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
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 Enrico Di Gesù is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Dec 2029
The small margins put Lecco out
Out, 1‑2 to AC Milan, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match15 Dec 2029
Cruel end for Vicenza as Lecco pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Lecco scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Filip Marchwiński
22 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
No sign of nerves from Oliver Blini at 21 — 7.96
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oliver Blini did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Match15 Dec 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Filip Marchwiński’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lecco.
The terraces17 Dec 2029
Lecco supporters have found a favourite in Oliver Blini
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Oliver Blini 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Filip Marchwiński
17 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match17 Nov 2029
Lecco cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Match17 Nov 2029
Nobody wins at Lecco
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The terraces19 Nov 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Filippo Monguzzi 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.
Match17 Nov 2029
Lecco get the job done against Renate
A 2‑0 win over Renate, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Leandro Zazpe 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 ratings19 Nov 2029
Nicolò Tondi did the work nobody counts — 7.31
9 combined actions and 7.31. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lecco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński 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 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Lecco
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enrico Di Gesù was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Nicolò Tondi'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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market22 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Filip Marchwiński’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad22 Oct 2029
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Lecco the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Looking ahead22 Oct 2029
They sit in position 18 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Sep 2029
3‑0, and Filip Marchwiński took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Lecco tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market1 Oct 2029
Luca Trombini 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 Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
A brace, and Filip Marchwiński takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filip Marchwiński provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lecco may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match29 Sep 2029
Lecco cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Filippo Monguzzi 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Leandro Zazpe 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“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 Lecco know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lecco may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match15 Sep 2029
7 unbeaten for Lecco
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Lecco did not have in the autumn.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński 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 Sep 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leandro Zazpe commits to Lecco for another 1 years.
Match15 Sep 2029
Three points for Lecco, 2‑0 the final word against Trento in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro Zazpe 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 ratings17 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 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 Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Lecco asked and Sambenedettese 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 dugout13 Aug 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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Empoli 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.
Market13 Aug 2029
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market13 Aug 2029
Lecco have made Enrico Di Gesù available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Leandro Zazpe arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
Squad13 Aug 2029
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Filip Marchwiński keeps the shirt for now, at Lecco's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Caia
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Orsini is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“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.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Juventus keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Jul 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 Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Llyton Chapman arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Llyton Chapman has, at Lecco, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Tondi, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at Lecco
-
The dugout
When it matters, Filippo Monguzzi plays
-
Market
Experience through the door at Lecco
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Caia
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Filippo Monguzzi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market9 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Nani Ferreira
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nani Ferreira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Lecco
Tommaso Orsini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Herman Pedmanson has just signed for Lecco, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Manuel Bianco has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lecco have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Juventus 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
A loan move for Mauro Skunca is in the works
Lecco have made the call to Pineto. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jun 2029
Federico Caia damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad25 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Lecco
Oliver Blini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Lecco
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Marchwiński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Jun 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Too much change too quickly at Lecco
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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Frosinone: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Nicolò Tondi gets picked when it counts
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 Nicolò Tondi is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Caia
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market18 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lecco people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Lecco
Oliver Blini 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Marchwiński 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 targets18 Jun 2029
Lecco asked and Napoli 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Tondi, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
This league is too small for Oliver Blini
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Lecco will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Club Brugge 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
Squad21 May 2029
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lecco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 May 2029
Tempers go at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Balliano 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 dugout21 May 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Filippo Monguzzi is on it.
The dugout21 May 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.
Market21 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lecco know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout21 May 2029
Fynn Hawkeswood 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Antonio Metlika makes the division’s eleven — 6.87
Marked 6.87, and picked in the team of the week for it. He was the best player on that pitch and the selectors saw the same match everybody else did.
Market21 May 2029
The stand keeps filling up for Nicolò Tondi
Somebody from Empoli has seen every one of Nicolò Tondi’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at Lecco knows it.
In brief
-
Boardroom
The Lecco production line keeps running
-
The dugout
Marwane Kritta keeps his manager's vote
-
Match
Mid-table, and Lecco know it
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Caia
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 May 2029
25 goals and a season average of 7.35. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market7 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christian Kabasele commits to Lecco for another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Lecco
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Marchwiński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 May 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Monguzzi, and the manager let it.
Match5 May 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout7 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Samuele Paro was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Lecco dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Caia
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Apr 2029
24 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Apr 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 Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces30 Apr 2029
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match28 Apr 2029
Lumezzane made Lecco work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Balliano 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 dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Samuele Paro kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Federico Caia
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lecco lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Nani Ferreira
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nani Ferreira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Lecco
Andrea Pavanello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match14 Apr 2029
AlbinoLeffe left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Nicolò Tondi 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Filippo Monguzzi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lecco 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
Upbeat
Match24 Mar 2029
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
A brace, and Filip Marchwiński takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filip Marchwiński provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad26 Mar 2029
20 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market26 Mar 2029
“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 Lecco, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Mar 2029
Nobody wants to play Lecco right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Squad26 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 Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Marked 8.74 — 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
No time for Renate to settle
The goal that put Renate ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Lecco equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Mar 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Filip Marchwiński
15 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match10 Mar 2029
Whatever happens, Lecco do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
Pergolettese made Lecco work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Lecco
Andrea Pavanello 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 8.49 — 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Samuele Paro on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 2029
$2.2M. No player has ever cost Lecco more, and expectation arrives with him.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Jacopo Furlan damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces15 Jan 2029
Lecco spend $2.2M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.2M for Federico Caia, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Lecco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Filip Marchwiński 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.
Match13 Jan 2029
Late, late show earns Lecco a point
Minute 92, against Giana Erminio, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“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; Lecco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Lecco
Filip Marchwiński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Oct 2028
The goals have deserted Lecco
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Lecco can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout23 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Gabriel Moreno 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Giuseppe Battimelli
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match21 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dolomiti Bellunesi will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead23 Oct 2028
Pergolettese next, and one man in the Lecco dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Jacopo Furlan
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacopo Furlan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lecco the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market16 Oct 2028
Antonio Metlika wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Lecco hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Lecco
Luigi Esposito 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuseppe Battimelli, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Lecco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Bonaiti 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
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 Filippo Monguzzi is on it.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Jacopo Furlan 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 Jacopo Furlan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Jacopo Furlan wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Lecco have no good answer.
Market16 Oct 2028
The Oliver Urso story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oliver Urso signs something — a contract at Lecco or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.