Marked for Billy Cullinane
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2038
Nicola Dipinto damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Squad9 Aug 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2038
Nicola Dipinto damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Squad2 Aug 2038
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2038
The owner puts $393.4K into Altamura
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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2038
Wages eat 106% of everything Altamura 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.
Market2 Aug 2038
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Rakhmatov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2038
Nicola Dipinto damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad12 Jul 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Altamura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Jul 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicola Dipinto
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Altamura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2038
Altamura are $28.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Rakhmatov 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.
Squad14 Jun 2038
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.
Market14 Jun 2038
The name of Billy Cullinane keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Altamura say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicola Dipinto
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Altamura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Claudio Toscano has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
An order from above at Altamura: 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.
Squad7 Jun 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
$478.0K of the owner's money at Altamura
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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
Wages eat 115% of everything Altamura 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.
Market7 Jun 2038
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2038
A place in the month's best eleven for Billy Cullinane
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Billy Cullinane has come out of that comparison in the side, and Altamura have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicola Dipinto
155 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Altamura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2038
There were 11 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.
Match8 May 2038
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Giuseppe Simone decided nobody was going anywhere. Benevento had no time left to answer.
Squad10 May 2038
16 goals and a season average of 7.63. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings10 May 2038
Giuseppe Simone, 34, rolls back the years — 8.60
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.60 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 May 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 May 2038
Whatever happens, Altamura do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings10 May 2038
Gabriele Gentile was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match8 May 2038
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giuseppe Simone. 2‑1 against Benevento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
-
Match
Altamura keep winning on the road
-
Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Billy Cullinane at his very best
-
Boardroom
106% of the income goes out in wages at Altamura
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2038
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Apr 2038
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Squad5 Apr 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Billy Cullinane and Altamura agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Apr 2038
Mattia Florio 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2038
The owner puts $405.3K into Altamura
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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
A performance of 9.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
Marked 8.57 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom5 Apr 2038
Altamura 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2038
Defences have started doubling up on Mattia Florio
19 goals and a season average of 7.63 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.68, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market15 Mar 2038
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Altamura they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
Age has not caught Mattia Florio yet — 8.75
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad15 Mar 2038
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Mar 2038
Giuseppe Simone among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Giuseppe Simone on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Altamura and Foggia.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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.
Match13 Mar 2038
Three points for Altamura, 4‑2 the final word against Foggia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom1 Mar 2038
The scrutiny sharpens at Altamura
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Altamura is running low.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Mattia Florio is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.62 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings1 Mar 2038
Age has not caught Mattia Florio yet — 9.19
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Juan Rey keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Altamura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Mar 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Feb 2038
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mattia Florio. 2‑1 against Casertana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Mar 2038
“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.
Market1 Mar 2038
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mattia Florio signs something — a contract at Altamura or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market1 Mar 2038
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Altamura could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2038
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Altamura is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2038
There were 7 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.
Market15 Feb 2038
“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 Altamura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Defences have started doubling up on Gabriele Gentile
12 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad15 Feb 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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 ratings15 Feb 2038
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings15 Feb 2038
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Player ratings15 Feb 2038
Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings8 Feb 2038
Mattia Florio, 34, rolls back the years — 8.83
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.83 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad8 Feb 2038
16 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match6 Feb 2038
Altamura leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad8 Feb 2038
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Squad8 Feb 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Henry King and Altamura agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom8 Feb 2038
The owner puts $367.5K into Altamura
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.
Match6 Feb 2038
Sorrento left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Feb 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuseppe Simone, and the manager let it.
Boardroom8 Feb 2038
Altamura 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2038
Gianluca Astaldi: 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.” Altamura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
Mattia Florio, 34, rolls back the years — 10.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad18 Jan 2038
The match ball belongs to Mattia Florio, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market18 Jan 2038
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Billy Cullinane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Altamura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Jan 2038
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.
Market18 Jan 2038
“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 Altamura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Mattia Florio is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.46 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match16 Jan 2038
Casarano made Altamura work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
Francesco Palumbo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2038
“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 Altamura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings11 Jan 2038
Giuseppe Simone, 33, rolls back the years — 8.10
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Match9 Jan 2038
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Jan 2038
A season average of 7.45 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Mattia Florio 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.
Squad11 Jan 2038
“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; Altamura are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings11 Jan 2038
Ninety minutes of Gabriele Gentile at his very best
Marked 8.85. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Altamura.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2038
Pressure builds in the Altamura boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Jan 2038
412 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Altamura know what they have.
Squad4 Jan 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2038
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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.
Match2 Jan 2038
Salernitana left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriele Gentile and Altamura agree another 4 years.
Boardroom4 Jan 2038
$316.5K of the owner's money at Altamura
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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2038
A performance of 8.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings4 Jan 2038
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2037
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
A brace, and Giuseppe Simone takes the afternoon — 8.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giuseppe Simone provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
Nicola Dipinto, 35, rolls back the years — 8.17
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Mattia Florio
11 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
Francesco Palumbo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 2037
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Billy Cullinane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Altamura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market21 Dec 2037
Gatis Vanins 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 Altamura can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2037
Henry King scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Catania, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match19 Dec 2037
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Altamura and Catania, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Gabriele Gentile
9 goals and a season average of 7.41 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings21 Dec 2037
Ninety minutes of Gabriele Gentile at his very best
Marked 8.91. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Altamura.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Dec 2037
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2037
Andrius Kuklys, 33, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings14 Dec 2037
24 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad14 Dec 2037
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Squad14 Dec 2037
Mattia Florio 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 ratings14 Dec 2037
Ninety minutes of Billy Cullinane at his very best
Marked 9.71. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Altamura.
Match12 Dec 2037
It finished 2‑0, and it was Francesco Palumbo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Altamura.
Player ratings14 Dec 2037
Ninety minutes of Francesco Palumbo at his very best
Marked 8.57. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Altamura.
Squad14 Dec 2037
A season average of 7.36 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Filippo Bonetti
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Altamura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market23 Nov 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Altamura is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market23 Nov 2037
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2037
“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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2037
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.
Squad23 Nov 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.97, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2037
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Altamura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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 Nov 2037
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Altamura know it.
Boardroom9 Nov 2037
110% of the income goes out in wages at Altamura
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market9 Nov 2037
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Oct 2037
Altamura throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Trapani the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Altamura will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
A brace, and Billy Cullinane takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Billy Cullinane provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market26 Oct 2037
Gatis Vanins 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 Altamura can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Oct 2037
No clean sheets in sight for Altamura
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.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Match24 Oct 2037
Trapani left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2037
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Mattia Florio, 34, rolls back the years — 9.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad5 Oct 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Altamura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 Oct 2037
Three points for Altamura, 5‑4 the final word against Cavese in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Oct 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2037
Billy Cullinane among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Billy Cullinane on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Altamura and Cavese.
Boardroom5 Oct 2037
$162.1K of the owner's money at Altamura
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
A performance of 9.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Marked 9.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2037
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
A brace, and Mattia Florio takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mattia Florio provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Vincenzo Graci: 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.” Altamura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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 ratings21 Sep 2037
Ninety minutes of Billy Cullinane at his very best
Marked 9.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Altamura.
Boardroom21 Sep 2037
No signings allowed at Altamura
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2037
“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 terraces14 Sep 2037
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Age has not caught Mattia Florio yet — 8.22
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Match12 Sep 2037
Picerno left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match12 Sep 2037
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Altamura and Picerno, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Gabriele Gentile was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.77. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Marked 8.54 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2037
“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; Altamura are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2037
Illia Khomych damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad31 Aug 2037
“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.
Market31 Aug 2037
“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 Altamura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Nicola Dipinto 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.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Mattia Florio 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.
Match29 Aug 2037
Cosenza left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
Henry King runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom31 Aug 2037
Altamura are $25.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market31 Aug 2037
Everyone has stopped pretending: Carpi will make the call about Mario Fernandes this week. Altamura have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Jul 2037
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad13 Jul 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Juan Rey gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Rey has just signed for Altamura, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad13 Jul 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Billy Cullinane, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Alexandr Rakhmatov 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.
Market13 Jul 2037
The name of Nicola Dipinto keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Altamura say nothing, which says plenty.
In brief
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Market
Altamura shop where it costs nothing
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Market
Altamura shop where it costs nothing
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 May 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikkel Kallesøe
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Altamura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings18 May 2037
No sign of nerves from Ibai Flores at 21 — 9.00
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ibai Flores did not need any: 9.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad18 May 2037
Billy Cullinane: 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.” Altamura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings18 May 2037
Mattia Florio, 33, rolls back the years — 8.27
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market18 May 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Altamura they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 May 2037
Words at Altamura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Florio 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.
Match16 May 2037
Three points for Altamura, 2‑1 the final word against Salernitana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces18 May 2037
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mario Fernandes 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 May 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikkel Kallesøe
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Altamura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 May 2037
Mattia Florio is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.64 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings4 May 2037
Age has not caught Mattia Florio yet — 8.44
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 May 2037
A move Billy Cullinane would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Billy Cullinane is living that version at Altamura, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad4 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 May 2037
$245.1K of the owner's money at Altamura
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.
Boardroom4 May 2037
No signings allowed at Altamura
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.
Player ratings4 May 2037
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 May 2037
A 2‑2 draw with Catania leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.