Marked for Giuseppe Cerulo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Apr 2045
Anger at Forli 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.
Market10 Apr 2045
“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 The request is on a desk at Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Apr 2045
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 Apr 2045
Tempers go at Forli
Leonardo Santer 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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2045
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad10 Apr 2045
Lukáš Raběčný 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.
Match8 Apr 2045
A 1‑0 win over Campobasso, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom10 Apr 2045
Wages eat 112% of everything Forli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market10 Apr 2045
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Forli, another week without a signature from Mamadou Aliou Diallo.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Apr 2045
Chastening afternoon for Forli
A 0‑6 beating by Carpi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match1 Apr 2045
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 Apr 2045
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Apr 2045
“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.
Match1 Apr 2045
No clean sheets in sight for Forli
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad3 Apr 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Apr 2045
6 goals as Forli and Carpi go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Forli and Carpi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom3 Apr 2045
$458.7K of the owner's money at Forli
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad3 Apr 2045
Mamadou Aliou Diallo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Mar 2045
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Mar 2045
“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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2045
An order from above at Forli: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Match4 Mar 2045
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Mar 2045
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Mar 2045
$464.3K of the owner's money at Forli
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom6 Mar 2045
The Forli debt reaches $18.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Player ratings6 Mar 2045
The cruellest goal, and it is Giuseppe Cerulo's
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Forli will not try tonight.
In brief
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Squad
Lukáš Raběčný loses the manager who believed in him
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Squad
The manager makes an example of Rodrigo Cardoso
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Squad
Words at Forli training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2045
Every point is an argument now for Forli
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad30 Jan 2045
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Jan 2045
“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.
Boardroom30 Jan 2045
Pressure builds in the Forli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market30 Jan 2045
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Forli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match28 Jan 2045
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom30 Jan 2045
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad30 Jan 2045
Tempers go at Forli
Leonardo Santer 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.
Squad30 Jan 2045
Lukáš Raběčný 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jan 2045
Luciano Andreoli damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Match2 Jan 2045
Forli sink to position 18
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match31 Dec 2044
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Vis Pesaro spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings2 Jan 2045
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrea Augusto Hugony provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market2 Jan 2045
“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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Jan 2045
Giuseppe Cerulo: 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.” Forli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Jan 2045
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Forli
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings2 Jan 2045
A defender's goal wins it for Forli — 7.48
1 for Youri Mignolet, marked 7.48, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad2 Jan 2045
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Santer and Forli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Nov 2044
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Forli can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Nov 2044
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Nov 2044
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad28 Nov 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Nov 2044
Mamadou Aliou Diallo 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.
Match26 Nov 2044
Ravenna made Forli work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces28 Nov 2044
Forli supporters have found a favourite in Youri Boyata
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Youri Boyata 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.
Boardroom28 Nov 2044
No signings allowed at Forli
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad28 Nov 2044
The manager makes an example of Giuseppe Cerulo
“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
Crisis
The terraces24 Oct 2044
The mood at Forli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match22 Oct 2044
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Oct 2044
“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.
Squad24 Oct 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Oct 2044
Words at Forli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lukáš Raběčný 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.
Match22 Oct 2044
Bra take the points off Forli
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Oct 2044
“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.
Boardroom24 Oct 2044
Wages eat 91% of everything Forli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings24 Oct 2044
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Oct 2044
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 Oct 2044
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Forli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Oct 2044
Tempers go at Forli
Leonardo Santer 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.
Boardroom3 Oct 2044
The owner puts $624.9K into Forli
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Oct 2044
Lukáš Raběčný 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.
Boardroom3 Oct 2044
Forli cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad3 Oct 2044
“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.
Squad3 Oct 2044
Youri Boyata named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Youri Boyata is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match1 Oct 2044
Honours even between Forli and Perugia
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Apr 2044
“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.
Match16 Apr 2044
The wait goes on for Forli
6 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.
Match16 Apr 2044
The goals have deserted Forli
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Forli can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad18 Apr 2044
Tempers go at Forli
Leonardo Santer 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.
Match16 Apr 2044
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom18 Apr 2044
Forli cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad18 Apr 2044
“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.
Squad18 Apr 2044
Emiljano Mihana 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 ratings18 Apr 2044
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.