Marked for Armando Cassano
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Nov 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Squad14 Nov 2033
6 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.
Market14 Nov 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Nov 2033
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alessandro Fontanarosa wants continental football; whether Avellino can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match12 Nov 2033
4 matches without a win for Avellino
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Avellino are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Nov 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Nov 2033
4 matches without a goal for Avellino
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 Nov 2033
A row about effort at Avellino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Walid Cheddira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Nov 2033
A bad afternoon for Avellino against Modena
0‑1 to Modena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Nov 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match2 Nov 2033
The cup run ends for Avellino
0‑1 against Lumezzane, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings7 Nov 2033
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Nov 2033
Marco Sala 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.
Squad7 Nov 2033
A row about effort at Avellino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Walid Cheddira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Nov 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio De Cristofaro and Avellino agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Nov 2033
3 matches without a goal for Avellino
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match5 Nov 2033
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Nov 2033
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Oct 2033
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Market17 Oct 2033
“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.
Match15 Oct 2033
The wait goes on for Avellino
5 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.
Squad17 Oct 2033
Words exchanged at Avellino
Marco Sala 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.
Squad17 Oct 2033
Words at Avellino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Cheddira 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.
Match15 Oct 2033
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Oct 2033
Luca Lungu 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.
Player ratings17 Oct 2033
Giovanni Andrea Cardu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Squad17 Oct 2033
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Sep 2033
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Avellino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Sep 2033
A falling-out at Avellino
Marco Sala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Sep 2033
A row about effort at Avellino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Walid Cheddira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Sep 2033
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match24 Sep 2033
It needed Walid Cheddira to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Pisa, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout26 Sep 2033
The manager makes an example of Armando Cassano
“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 dugout26 Sep 2033
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout26 Sep 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giovanni Andrea Cardu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead26 Sep 2033
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hellas Verona in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Aug 2033
Alvin Isufi breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Aug 2033
9 seasons and 414 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Transfer targets8 Aug 2033
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is saying, and nobody at Avellino is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Aug 2033
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Palumbo and Avellino agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Aug 2033
Marco Sala 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.
Transfer targets8 Aug 2033
Avellino asked and AS Roma 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 dugout8 Aug 2033
“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.
Market8 Aug 2033
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Cristian Pignatelli has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Avellino.
The dugout8 Aug 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giovanni Andrea Cardu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Jun 2033
Alvin Isufi breaks a bone — 69 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets20 Jun 2033
Everything agreed with Juve Stabia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets20 Jun 2033
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Juventus keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Words exchanged at Avellino
Vincent Sierro 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.
Squad20 Jun 2033
A row about effort at Avellino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Fontanarosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom20 Jun 2033
98% of the income goes out in wages at Avellino
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.
The dugout20 Jun 2033
The manager makes an example of Armando Cassano
“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 dugout20 Jun 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giovanni Andrea Cardu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch20 Jun 2033
The goals keep arriving from Agustín Melean’s exile
5 goals in 10 games at Rosario Central — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Avellino updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Jun 2033
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Martin Palumbo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad13 Jun 2033
A fracture rules Alvin Isufi out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avellino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout13 Jun 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avellino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets13 Jun 2033
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Como keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Marco Sala 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.
Squad13 Jun 2033
A row about effort at Avellino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent Sierro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Jun 2033
A loan enquiry to Juventus: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market13 Jun 2033
The name of Walid Cheddira keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Avellino say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Martin Palumbo has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Avellino that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2033
A fracture rules Lorenco Šimić out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avellino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
Avellino had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cagliari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Avellino have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market10 Jan 2033
“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.
Match8 Jan 2033
The wait goes on for Avellino
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.
Squad10 Jan 2033
A falling-out at Avellino
Marco Sala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 Jan 2033
The goals have deserted Avellino
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Avellino can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Vincent Sierro 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 targets10 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Avellino go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Armando Cassano
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Boardroom
Avellino bank $6.8M from an old deal
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Walid Cheddira
21 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market1 Mar 2032
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Feb 2032
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
“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; Avellino are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Avellino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Occhiuzzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market1 Mar 2032
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luca Palmiero has his answer from Avellino; what he does with it is the next window’s story.