Marked for Oscar Moreso
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrea Gasbarro
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audace Cerignola lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Gogny 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Oscar Moreso 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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan move for Valentin Antov is in the works
Audace Cerignola have made the call to Monza. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Lorenzo Paolucci 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
The chase for Filippo Romagna ended with $2.3M changing hands and Sassuolo out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audace Cerignola can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Stefano Greco 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 terraces12 Jul 2027
Audace Cerignola spend $2.3M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.3M for Filippo Romagna, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Audace Cerignola asked and Livorno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oscar Moreso and Audace Cerignola agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Audace Cerignola know which stage they are at.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Enzo Gogny
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 May 2027
Martin Cocorocchio 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 dugout10 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Paolucci trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 May 2027
“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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
8 shut-outs in 30 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Stefano Greco has been having a lot of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audace Cerignola can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Miranda 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 May 2027
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad3 May 2027
Alessandro Bassino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Audace Cerignola, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout3 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout3 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Martin Cocorocchio has written the date down.
Market3 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Claudio Parlato’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Apr 2027
Position 5 on 39 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kevin Miranda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
He is 22 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
200 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Enzo Gogny 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oscar Moreso and Audace Cerignola agree another 3 years.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.84 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Audace Cerignola had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Giacomo Seminari 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carmine Cretella trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Meli’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Audace Cerignola needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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 Giacomo Seminari is on it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Enzo Gogny has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Enzo Gogny has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Kevin Miranda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ludovico D'Orazio and Audace Cerignola agree another 4 years.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Gogny 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 Feb 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Oscar Moreso 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Giacomo Seminari is on it.