Marked for Stefano Baraldi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Nov 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Lorenzo Berardi 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.
Boardroom17 Nov 2031
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Fidel Tourn 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.
Match15 Nov 2031
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Something was said to Máximo Gutierrez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Match15 Nov 2031
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Oct 2031
Giuseppe Cuomo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Kumi 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.
Match11 Oct 2031
1‑3 to Renate, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“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 dugout13 Oct 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
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.
Market13 Oct 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Justin Kumi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Sep 2031
Giuseppe Cuomo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justin Kumi, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fidel Tourn 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matvey Burlakov and Pergolettese agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
Stefano Baraldi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pergolettese 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.
Market15 Sep 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Justin Kumi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bautista Bainotti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Lorenzo Berardi wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Pergolettese have no good answer.
Market15 Sep 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pergolettese, another week without a signature from Matvey Burlakov.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
The deal with Pro Patria 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad25 Aug 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Máximo Gutierrez has just signed for Pergolettese, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
7 academy graduates step up at Pergolettese
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pergolettese now.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Pergolettese asked and Pineto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Aug 2031
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 5 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Market25 Aug 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gregorio Sala is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Aug 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sebastián Talmón is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Aug 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pergolettese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Berardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Pergolettese have made the call to Pineto. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
Barnabás Nagy 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.
Market4 Aug 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Michieletto signs something — a contract at Pergolettese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
The manager plants his flag on Zaid Jaouhari
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Zaid Jaouhari’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pergolettese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Zaid Jaouhari has agreed terms with Torino for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 Jul 2031
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Jul 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pergolettese now.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Justin Kumi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jul 2031
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to Torino: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jul 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Jul 2031
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Jul 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jul 2031
Add another name to the list: Sorrento have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Stefano Baraldi. The answer from Pergolettese has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Giuseppe Cuomo 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 targets21 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kauno Zalgiris have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“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 dugout21 Jul 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrea Michieletto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Pergolettese had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Crotone, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Zaid Jaouhari 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Vladislav Bolotnikov is living that version at Pergolettese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at Pergolettese
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Kumi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trento have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Ascoli 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 dugout30 Jun 2031
Justin Kumi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pergolettese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad30 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
Steady
Squad2 Jun 2031
Filippo Conzato damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Market2 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
A move Bautista Bainotti 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. Bautista Bainotti is living that version at Pergolettese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad2 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at Pergolettese
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market2 Jun 2031
The name of Borys Skraburski has come up in conversations Pergolettese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Justin Kumi 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 targets2 Jun 2031
Pergolettese asked and Real Sociedad 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 dugout2 Jun 2031
“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
Match22 Mar 2031
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Mar 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Barnabás Nagy 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 ratings24 Mar 2031
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom24 Mar 2031
Wages swallow 113% of the Pergolettese income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
Fidel Tourn 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Daniele Ferrandino
3 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match22 Mar 2031
It needed Lorenzo Berardi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vicenza, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Dec 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.
Match30 Nov 2030
14 matches without defeat, and then Arzignano. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad2 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
Match30 Nov 2030
0‑2 to Arzignano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“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.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
110% of the income goes out in wages at Pergolettese
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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Michael De Marchi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Sep 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Stefano Baraldi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Zaid Jaouhari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pergolettese now.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael De Marchi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Match21 Sep 2030
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match21 Sep 2030
A 1‑1 draw with Dolomiti Bellunesi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 May 2030
Zaid Jaouhari damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Justin Kumi is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.61 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 May 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces20 May 2030
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.
Match18 May 2030
Ospitaletto made Pergolettese work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Ninety minutes of Justin Kumi at his very best
Marked 8.54. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Pergolettese.
Squad20 May 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uriel Arena was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom20 May 2030
109% of the income goes out in wages at Pergolettese
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.