Marked for Brian Okoth
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Edoardo Callegari has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Edoardo Callegari is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Foggia
Lorenzo Bonsignori Goggi 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentino Roselli and Foggia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Jul 2031
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
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Market14 Jul 2031
Everyone has stopped pretending: Crotone will make the call about Edoardo Callegari this week. Foggia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market14 Jul 2031
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Giuseppe Guadagni may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Jun 2031
“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 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Oleg Lanin 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.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Foggia asked and Bologna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market23 Jun 2031
José Luis Blanco is 18, and Foggia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad23 Jun 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Armando Martinelli commits to Foggia for another 3 years.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
Giuseppe Guadagni has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Foggia 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.
Market23 Jun 2031
The clock does Oleg Lanin’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Foggia could ask drops and the wages Oleg Lanin can ask rise.
Squad23 Jun 2031
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Jun 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Foggia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
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Market16 Jun 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Foggia
Lorenzo Bonsignori Goggi 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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Armando Martinelli has just signed for Foggia, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Foggia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Lanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benit Mukwabango and Foggia agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Foggia asked and Empoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Manfrin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Jun 2031
Only the photograph left for Roman Durko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Durko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom9 Jun 2031
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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Foggia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Lanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
Foggia asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Okoth, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
Oleg Lanin 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 Oleg Lanin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
Manuel Testa gets picked when it counts
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 Manuel Testa is on it.
Market9 Jun 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foggia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom26 May 2031
Pressure builds in the Foggia boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 May 2031
Only the photograph left for Ntando Ngcobo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ntando Ngcobo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Lanin 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 dugout26 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Alessio Nepi
“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 May 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michy Kompany and Foggia agree another 3 years.
The dugout26 May 2031
Giuseppe Guadagni has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Foggia 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.
Market26 May 2031
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Foggia money.
Market26 May 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Guadagni signs something — a contract at Foggia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout19 May 2031
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Market19 May 2031
Only the photograph left for Brian Okoth
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Okoth will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout19 May 2031
Elia Grassi: 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.” Foggia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 May 2031
A falling-out at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 May 2031
A row about effort at Foggia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Lanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 May 2031
No place for Alessio Nepi in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alessio Nepi has his answer from Foggia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout19 May 2031
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.
The dugout19 May 2031
Alessio Nepi 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 Alessio Nepi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 May 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Panico signs something — a contract at Foggia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Elia Grassi, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Giuseppe Panico, 33, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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Market21 Apr 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Oleg Lanin 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.
Match19 Apr 2031
It finished 2‑1, and it was Elia Grassi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Foggia.
The terraces21 Apr 2031
Foggia supporters have found a favourite in Elia Grassi
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Elia Grassi 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
Uneasy
Squad24 Mar 2031
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match22 Mar 2031
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad24 Mar 2031
The match ball belongs to Alessio Nepi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.01, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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Market24 Mar 2031
Only the photograph left for Brian Okoth
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Okoth will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Foggia
Lorenzo Bonsignori Goggi 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 ratings24 Mar 2031
Alessio Nepi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.66. 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Oleg Lanin 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
Squad24 Feb 2031
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foggia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Feb 2031
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.
Match22 Feb 2031
A hiding for Foggia
Beaten 1‑4 by Benevento, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
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Market24 Feb 2031
Only the photograph left for Brian Okoth
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Okoth will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foggia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Oleg Lanin 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.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
Nobody left the Foggia dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Feb 2031
Till Winkelmann damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market17 Feb 2031
“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 Foggia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Feb 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Brian Okoth has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad17 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Till Winkelmann and Foggia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match15 Feb 2031
The run is over for Foggia
8 matches without defeat, and then Catania. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Lanin 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
Match7 Dec 2030
The wait goes on for Foggia
12 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.
Market9 Dec 2030
“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 Foggia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad9 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A move Antonio Ferraro 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. Antonio Ferraro is living that version at Foggia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match7 Dec 2030
Alessio Nepi scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Giugliano, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Lanin 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.
Match7 Dec 2030
Foggia are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Oct 2030
The cup run ends for Foggia
1‑3 against Genoa, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad4 Nov 2030
There were 8 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.
Market4 Nov 2030
“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.
Match2 Nov 2030
No end in sight to Foggia's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Foggia has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
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Market4 Nov 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foggia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A falling-out at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Oleg Lanin 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 dugout4 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Nepi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Oct 2030
14 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Arturo Piras damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Market21 Oct 2030
Ali Zaher has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.13, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match19 Oct 2030
The wait goes on for Foggia
4 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Foggia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Lanin 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 Oct 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foggia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
Brian Okoth 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.
Match19 Oct 2030
A 1‑1 draw with Salernitana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
Oleg Lanin knocks on the manager's door
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
The leaders are next for Foggia
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout7 Oct 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Foggia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Oct 2030
“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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
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Market7 Oct 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foggia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words exchanged at Foggia
Giuseppe Panico 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Foggia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Lanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Foggia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match5 Oct 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Aug 2030
55 days out for Danilo Messina after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Foggia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Aug 2030
The Trento deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Angelo Vapore reports back to Foggia with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad5 Aug 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oleg Lanin and Foggia agree another 1 years.
Squad5 Aug 2030
At 20, Armando Ferri is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Foggia have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Brian Okoth gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Brian Okoth has just signed for Foggia, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
The manager makes an example of Felice D'Amico
“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.
Market5 Aug 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Foggia, another week without a signature from Oleg Lanin.
Market5 Aug 2030
Experience through the door at Foggia
Roman Durko arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
Michy Kompany has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Foggia 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.