Marked for Engeda Romeyer
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces24 Mar 2036
The mood at Parma has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market24 Mar 2036
Engeda Romeyer has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Parma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Tempers go at Parma
Augusto Saravia 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.
Boardroom24 Mar 2036
Parma have asked about the manager
The approach has gone in and the answer belongs to Slávia TU Košice. Business like this is done quietly and reported loudly, and rarely in that order.
Match22 Mar 2036
Parma come up short against Pisa
Pisa left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Piotr Linetty 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 dugout24 Mar 2036
“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 dugout24 Mar 2036
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces25 Feb 2036
Supporters organise against the Parma board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market25 Feb 2036
Engeda Romeyer has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Parma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Parma may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Tempers go at Parma
Augusto Saravia 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.
Match23 Feb 2036
It finished 2‑1, and it was Augusto Saravia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Parma.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words at Parma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Piotr Linetty 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 ratings25 Feb 2036
Marked 8.14 — 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.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Espinoza, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Too much change too quickly at Parma
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Jan 2036
Supporters organise against the Parma board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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 Parma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jan 2036
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Forli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Parma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad28 Jan 2036
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Jan 2036
Engeda Romeyer has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Parma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Jan 2036
Cagliari will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Niccolò Rizzo has pre-agreed a move to Parma, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Match26 Jan 2036
The goals have deserted Parma
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Parma can tell you which week it ends in.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Nov 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miroslav Georgiev
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Parma lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Moussa Baradji out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Parma will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Nov 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Parma can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Nov 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Parma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom12 Nov 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Engeda Romeyer has agreed terms with Lecco for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words exchanged at Parma
Augusto Saravia 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.
Boardroom12 Nov 2035
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Parma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Formoso 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.
Match10 Nov 2035
Parma come up short against Pisa
Pisa left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces5 Nov 2035
Anger at Parma spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad5 Nov 2035
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Parma lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Nov 2035
45 days out for Moussa Baradji after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Parma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Oct 2035
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kevin Leone obliged against Catania. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Parma.
Match31 Oct 2035
Parma win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 103th minute. Catania will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market5 Nov 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco D'Amore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Parma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market5 Nov 2035
“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 ratings5 Nov 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
Gianluca Piazza could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.51
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.51, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fernando Formoso
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Parma lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market20 Aug 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Parma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market20 Aug 2035
“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 Parma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Parma have done the hard part with AS Roma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad20 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Parma asked and Lazio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Parma
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Portanova was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
A loan move for Daniel Maldini is in the works
Parma have made the call to Atalanta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2035
Fernando Formoso damages knee ligaments — 66 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Parma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market30 Jul 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Parma can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Jul 2035
Only the photograph left for Daniël Singh
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniël Singh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Parma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad30 Jul 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Words at Parma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Portanova 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 Jul 2035
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.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Parma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Parma
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market2 Apr 2035
“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.
Market2 Apr 2035
Only the photograph left for Evan Letrouit
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evan Letrouit will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Parma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Engeda Romeyer arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Engeda Romeyer has, at Parma, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Parma
Karlo Pajsar 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.
Market2 Apr 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leandro Palumbo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market2 Apr 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicola Marino has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Riyad Bounedjah 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
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lecco can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2034
The paperwork begins on Emil Holm
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lecco have done the hard part with AC Milan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout26 Jun 2034
This is not rotation. Karlo Muhar has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Lecco is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jun 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2034
$5.0K was the most the club would pay and Vis Pesaro were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Filippo Plazzotta 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.
Market26 Jun 2034
Unirea Slobozia are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Lecco will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad26 Jun 2034
The formation has left Tomás Luna behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lecco will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout26 Jun 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Harley Irwin, and the manager let it.