Marked for Alon Ben-Ami
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 AlbinoLeffe people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2029
The bid was some way short and AlbinoLeffe did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
AlbinoLeffe asked and Virtus Entella said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Jacopo Desogus 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Tommaso Marchetti 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.
Market18 Jun 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AlbinoLeffe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market18 Jun 2029
AlbinoLeffe have made Gabriele Baldi available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at AlbinoLeffe would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The terraces18 Jun 2029
The stands have heard the Michele Ambrosini talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. AlbinoLeffe would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 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 The request is on a desk at AlbinoLeffe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2029
Gabriele Baldi 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 AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Desogus 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
Gabriele Baldi 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 AlbinoLeffe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AlbinoLeffe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market21 May 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs AlbinoLeffe money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 May 2029
Gabriele Baldi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 May 2029
This is not rotation. Daniele Tironi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AlbinoLeffe is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 May 2029
Jacopo Desogus 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 May 2029
Alon Ben-Ami 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.
Market7 May 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AlbinoLeffe, another week without a signature from José Ríos.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Apr 2029
Anger at AlbinoLeffe spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market30 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AlbinoLeffe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Jacopo Desogus 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Tommaso Marchetti 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 dugout30 Apr 2029
Something was said to Alon Ben-Ami and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market30 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AlbinoLeffe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AlbinoLeffe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at AlbinoLeffe
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad5 Feb 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 AlbinoLeffe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and AlbinoLeffe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match3 Feb 2029
Maksim Minkov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Vicenza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AlbinoLeffe will try again when the window opens; Cavese may not be selling by then.
The dugout5 Feb 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at AlbinoLeffe who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Dec 2028
Alon Ben-Ami 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 AlbinoLeffe can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Dec 2028
5 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Gabriele Baldi 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match25 Dec 2028
Halfway: AlbinoLeffe sit in position 7
18 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AlbinoLeffe can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Alon Ben-Ami: 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.” AlbinoLeffe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to AlbinoLeffe's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AlbinoLeffe has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
16 combined actions and 6.74. 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Gabriele Baldi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Novara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Fabio Tito'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 dugout18 Dec 2028
José Ríos gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
A fracture rules Maksim Minkov out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Gabriele Baldi 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 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Parma have kept their man, and AlbinoLeffe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AlbinoLeffe, another week without a signature from Gabriele Baldi.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Alessandro Lombardi'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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alon Ben-Ami and AlbinoLeffe agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Gabriele Baldi 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 Gabriele Baldi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Nativoha, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead11 Sep 2028
Renate next, and one man in the AlbinoLeffe dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Beitar Jerusalem have gone to Viktoria Žižkov 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Miguel Silva 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 Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gil Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Beitar Jerusalem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market9 Aug 2027
Hapoel Acre are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Beitar Jerusalem will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yehonatan Ozer and Beitar Jerusalem agree another 3 years.
Market9 Aug 2027
Oren Biton is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Beitar Jerusalem has been clear about where Oren Biton stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout9 Aug 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 Jasond González is on it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Abba Musa 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 Abba Musa has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Yarden Shua 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Beitar Jerusalem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Dor Micha slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dor Micha is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market2 Aug 2027
Dor Micha told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Dor Micha has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Beitar Jerusalem.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Beitar Jerusalem, another week without a signature from Abba Musa.