Erick Ciobanu

Central Midfielder - Free Agent
16 Feb 2033
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Erick Ciobanu

335 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

27 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Yusuf Muhammad 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 Reggiana can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Natan Girma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Belts tighten at Reggiana

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.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Suárez 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.

Squad

Yusuf Muhammad wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Reggiana can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Squad

The division's best last weekend was a Reggiana man

It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Leon Šipoš was the best thing in any of them.

Match

Point won or two lost for Reggiana?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Frosinone? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

The dugout

Mateo Zárate has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Reggiana 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.

In brief

Back issues
334 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

20 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

9 saves: Matteo Enza was the team

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.

Match

The drought breaks for Reggiana

13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mantova were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

A brace, and Leon Šipoš takes the afternoon — 9.59

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leon Šipoš provided it, and the 9.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Abdoul Bode asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Squad

Reggiana lose Aarón Martínez

18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Andrea Bozzolan 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.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Suárez 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.

Match

Reggiana see off Mantova

Three points for Reggiana, 3‑1 the final word against Mantova in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

No hiding place for Erick Ciobanu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Ciobanu, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Matteo Enza gets picked when it counts
  • Market Natan Girma linked with a move away
330 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

22 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

10 matches without a win for Reggiana

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Reggiana are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Reggiana

Andrea Bozzolan 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.

Squad

Luca Vido 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 ratings

A masterclass from Leon Šipoš

Marked 8.12 — 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 dugout

Erick Ciobanu 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.

Match

Reggiana and Cremonese take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

When it matters, Matteo Enza plays

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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Luca Vido

Nobody at Reggiana is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.

In brief

325 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

18 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

The mood at Reggiana 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Reggiana

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Reggiana are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Luca Vido in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Martín Suárez 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.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Mateo Zárate for 14 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Reggiana will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Match

Reggiana rescue it on 93 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Hellas Verona had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Erick Ciobanu

“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.

Squad

Yusuf Muhammad wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Reggiana can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Match

Reggiana and Hellas Verona take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

321 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

20 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed

A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Reggiana 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Squad

Luca Vido 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 ratings

One of those days for Natan Girma

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Erick Ciobanu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Ciobanu, and the manager let it.

Match

Reggiana share the spoils with Cesena

A 2‑2 draw with Cesena leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.

Market

No place for Abdoul Bode in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdoul Bode has his answer from Reggiana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

316 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

16 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Yusuf Muhammad asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

The dugout

Valerio Angelucci: 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.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Luca Vido and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Suárez 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.

Squad

Luciano Verdi out for 33 days

The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Luciano Verdi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Boardroom

103% of the income goes out in wages at Reggiana

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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Reggiana

9 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.

The dugout

Erick Ciobanu 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 Erick Ciobanu is on it.

Market

The Martín Suárez question follows Reggiana around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martín Suárez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

314 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

2 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Reggiana spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Reggiana

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Market

Pedro Ribeiro asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Squad

Martín Suárez signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martín Suárez commits to Reggiana for another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Natan Girma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Andrea Lucchesi

At 17 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.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Suárez 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.

Market

Erick Ciobanu is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Reggiana has been clear about where Erick Ciobanu stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

Luca Vido without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Luca Vido was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

In brief

313 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

26 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The terraces

The mood at Reggiana 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.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Andrea Bozzolan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Joshua Ntumba 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. Joshua Ntumba has, at Reggiana, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Suárez 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.

Squad

Reggiana count the cost of losing Ignazio Graziani

50 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Transfer targets

Reggiana try to borrow Samuele Conti

AS Roma 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.

Market

The Natan Girma question follows Reggiana around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Natan Girma’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

When it matters, Joao Visentin plays

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.

In brief

312 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

19 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vallarelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Reggiana rebuffed over Antonio Pellegrino

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Reggiana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Emanuel Bassi has improved at 25, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Luciano Verdi out for 61 days

The medical room confirms 61 days on the sidelines for Luciano Verdi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 109% of the Reggiana 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 dugout

Valerio Angelucci 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Erick Ciobanu plays

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.

Market

The Martín Suárez question follows Reggiana around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martín Suárez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

309 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

28 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The terraces

The mood at Reggiana 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.

The dugout

Pedro Ribeiro: 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.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Marco Rossello

Reggiana and Union Brescia have settled on $150.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Squad

Natan Girma out for 39 days

The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Natan Girma, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Transfer targets

Alessandro Scacchetti will not be coming to Reggiana

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sambenedettese is saying, and nobody at Reggiana is enjoying the guessing.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

Francesco Vallarelli in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Cédric Brunner 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 dugout

No hiding place for Erick Ciobanu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Ciobanu, and the manager let it.

In brief

308 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

21 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Francesco Borriello agrees terms with Monza

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Reggiana people have started saying his name in the past tense.

The dugout

Erick Ciobanu says Reggiana went back on their word

“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.

Market

Francesco Borriello asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Marco Rossello rejects the move

Reggiana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Union Brescia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Squad

Matéo Prigent 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. Matéo Prigent has, at Reggiana, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Martín Suárez 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 124% of everything Reggiana 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.

Squad

The formation has left Mateo Zárate behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Reggiana will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

304 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

24 May 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Lorenzo Crisetig asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Suárez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 132% of the Reggiana 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.

Squad

Pedro Ribeiro wants to go home

“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 Reggiana know it.

The dugout

Lorenzo Crisetig 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.

Market

The Natan Girma talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

When it matters, Erick Ciobanu plays

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.

Market

Reggiana put Antonio Vaccà up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Antonio Vaccà may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

300 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

26 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Squad

Francesco Grasso out for 26 days

The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Francesco Grasso, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Boardroom

140% of the income goes out in wages at Reggiana

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.

Player ratings

Natan Girma runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Leon Šipoš in the eights

A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Bonetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mario Sampirisi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mario Sampirisi, and the manager let it.

Match

Leon Šipoš rescues a point for Reggiana

It needed Leon Šipoš to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Südtirol, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “We have to be better”

“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.

In brief

299 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

19 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Reggiana boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Match

Reggiana throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Virtus Entella the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Reggiana will enjoy reviewing.

Player ratings

Natan Girma scores twice — 8.16

Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Alessandro Tripaldelli, 33, rolls back the years — 7.84

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Antonio Vaccà asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Squad

Lorenzo Crisetig in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Martín Suárez 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 15 days out for Erick Ciobanu

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Reggiana will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matteo Enza

“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.

In brief

298 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

12 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ettore Broggian puts it in writing

“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 Reggiana, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Natan Girma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Suárez 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.

Match

Reggiana see off Carrarese

Three points for Reggiana, 1‑0 the final word against Carrarese in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Martín Suárez

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Leon Šipoš

7.92, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Reggiana had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

Reggiana keep their word to Leo Begolli

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 dugout

Interim Coach: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

Erick Ciobanu 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.

In brief

292 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

1 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Leo Begolli asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Match

8 matches without a win for Reggiana

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Reggiana are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Natan Girma in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Reggiana against Frosinone

0‑2 to Frosinone, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Sampirisi 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.

Boardroom

126% of the income goes out in wages at Reggiana

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 dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Erick Ciobanu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Ciobanu, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Leo Begolli 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.

In brief

291 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

23 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Reggiana boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Match

7 matches without a win for Reggiana

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Reggiana are no longer polite ones.

Market

Antonio Vaccà asks to leave Reggiana

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Natan Girma

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Mantova take the points off Reggiana

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Leo Begolli

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leo Begolli, and the manager let it.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Bonetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

287 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Reggiana boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Match

Reggiana refuse to lose to Cremonese

A point taken on 90 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Natan Girma

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Reggiana share the spoils with Cremonese

A 1‑1 draw with Cremonese leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Lorenzo Crisetig

Nobody at Reggiana is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.

The dugout

Valerio Angelucci 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.

Squad

A ban for Simone Bonetti

One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Reggiana lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.

In brief

286 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

19 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Matteo Enza

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.

The dugout

Valerio Angelucci says Reggiana went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Match

Juve Stabia take the points off Reggiana

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Mario Sampirisi 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.

Match

Aarón Martínez answers Juve Stabia immediately

Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Aarón Martínez had Reggiana level again within 2 minutes, and Juve Stabia never got to play with a lead at all.

Squad

Erick Ciobanu reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ettore Broggian

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ettore Broggian, and the manager let it.

In brief

279 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Lorenzo Crisetig out for 46 days

46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Reggiana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Reggiana boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Matteo Enza

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.

Market

Francesco Morabito is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Reggiana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Bozzolan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Francesco Vallarelli in the eights

A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Martín Suárez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Reggiana had all but put away. Carrarese will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

In brief

278 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

24 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Lorenzo Crisetig

53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Reggiana tear Cesena apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Cesena, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Leon Šipoš's — 9.24

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

A brace, and Natan Girma takes the afternoon — 8.14

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Natan Girma provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Words exchanged at Reggiana

Lorenzo Crisetig 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.

Match

Natan Girma among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Natan Girma on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Reggiana and Cesena.

The dugout

Leo Begolli 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 ratings

A masterclass from Martín Suárez

Marked 8.26 — 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 dugout

Interim Coach: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 5‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

273 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

20 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Reggiana 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.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Match

The wait goes on for Reggiana

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Natan Girma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Crisetig was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Reggiana come up short against Frosinone

Frosinone left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Matteo Enza 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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Erick Ciobanu 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 Erick Ciobanu is on it.

In brief

261 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

28 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Reggiana 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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Frank Tsadjout rejects the move

Reggiana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cremonese, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

The step up is real for Valerio Angelucci

At 22 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Reggiana

Natan Girma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Reggiana rebuffed over Attila Horváth

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cesena have kept their man, and Reggiana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrea Bozzolan

“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.

Squad

Late improvement for Emanuel Bassi

At 24 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 101% of the Reggiana 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.

Transfer targets

Reggiana try to borrow Gianluca Ventura

Juventus 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.

In brief

255 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

16 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Reggiana boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Not going: Daniel Golovatic stays at Reggiana

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Carrarese had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Transfer targets

$1.3M settles it between the clubs for Tomás Attis

Empoli have accepted the money. What Reggiana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ryan Gnonto rejects the move

Reggiana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Catania, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Words exchanged at Reggiana

Natan Girma 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.

Transfer targets

Reggiana ask about Darius Cristian Groza

A loan enquiry to Bologna: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Boardroom

$1.2M lands at Reggiana thanks to Matteo Rover

A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Reggiana $1.2M. Matteo Rover left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.

Market

The Aarón Martínez talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Erick Ciobanu 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 Erick Ciobanu is on it.

In brief

248 Edition

The Reggiana Gazette

28 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Gianluca Sanna damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.

Squad

Martín Suárez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Reggiana

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Crisetig was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Natan Girma

Marked 8.20 — 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aarón Martínez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Late, late show earns Reggiana a point

Minute 86, against Südtirol, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

Match

Reggiana share the spoils with Südtirol

A 2‑2 draw with Südtirol leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Daniel Golovatic

“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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Reggiana dressing room was either.

In brief