Marked for Marco Perri
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Picerno
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Picerno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Guadagni 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 targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bari have kept their man, and Picerno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 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 Picerno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Atalanta: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Antonio Romano 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 Antonio Romano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Jun 2028
The Léo Abreu talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Picerno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
When it matters, Gary Vargas plays
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
$170.0K was the most the club would pay and Sampdoria 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Picerno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Guadagni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
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 targets24 Jan 2028
Monza 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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malik Djibril, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Tobías Gómez's mistake
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Market
Marco Perri told to find a new club
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Match
Point won or two lost for Picerno?
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jan 2028
$590.0K. No player has ever cost Picerno more, and expectation arrives with him.
Market17 Jan 2028
“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 Picerno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The deal with Sampdoria is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
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.
Match15 Jan 2028
The drought breaks for Picerno
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Altamura were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
$590.0K for Alain Taho, and Picerno supporters approve
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Alain Taho from Inter for $590.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Picerno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Guadagni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Jan 2028
A 2‑0 win over Altamura, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Picerno did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Picerno have done the hard part with Lecce, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets16 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Picerno
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Bassoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Picerno
Antonio Granata and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Aug 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Samuel Pugliese 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 dugout16 Aug 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Léo Abreu linked with a move away
The name of Léo Abreu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Picerno say nothing, which says plenty.