Marked for Mirko Chelli
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
123 days out for Luca Sapiente after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sambenedettese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Mirko Chelli: 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.” Sambenedettese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Sambenedettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Candellori 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 dugout11 Oct 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pasquale Marranzino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout11 Oct 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 Francesco Scafetta is on it.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Perugia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market11 Oct 2027
The shop window has Pepín Machín in it
Sambenedettese have let the market know Pepín Machín can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Luca Sapiente out for 130 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sambenedettese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match2 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Sambenedettese's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sambenedettese has to find a result from somewhere.
Market4 Oct 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Varela and Sambenedettese agree another 2 years.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sambenedettese, and 2 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces4 Oct 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.
The dugout4 Oct 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Sambenedettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Scafetta 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 ratings4 Oct 2027
A mark of 7.15, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Vittorio Parigini's mistake
-
Match
Point won or two lost for Sambenedettese?
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sambenedettese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sambenedettese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Trento, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Candellori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Sambenedettese have made the call to Atalanta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Fernando Corica has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sambenedettese 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.
Match16 Aug 2027
Continental football is in reach for Sambenedettese
47 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
Matteo Bruscagin damages knee ligaments — 66 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The deal with Inter 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Candellori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market26 Jul 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Sambenedettese signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Fiorentina 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Tommaso Orsini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sambenedettese 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sambenedettese will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Vincenzo Alfieri 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sambenedettese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Elia Plicco is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Sambenedettese asked and Ferencvaros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kevin Candellori 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Argentino de Quilmes: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jun 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 Tommaso Orsini is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matteo Bruscagin
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sambenedettese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 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 Sambenedettese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 2027
Pepín Machín 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Zoboletti and Sambenedettese agree another 5 years.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Sambenedettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Candellori 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 dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Voltolini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Nicolás Varela 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 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Candellori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Something was said to Gonzalo Dorado and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout26 Apr 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alessandro Zoboletti signs something — a contract at Sambenedettese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Sgarbi, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 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; Sambenedettese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mirko Chelli and Sambenedettese agree another 3 years.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ruggero Bertolini to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Vittorio Parigini is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sambenedettese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Kevin Martins, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 21 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over Gubbio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Sambenedettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Candellori 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.” Ruggero Bertolini kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mirko Chelli
“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
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Kevin Candellori 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 Oct 2026
Francesco Scafetta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ruggero Bertolini to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Vis Pesaro in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.