Marked for Erick Ciobanu
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Reggiana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Matteo Rover 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“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.
Match18 Dec 2027
0‑1 to Palermo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Reggiana, and it is a cruel one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Carlo Giordano has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Aug 2027
FC Dallas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Reggiana did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Reggiana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Matteo Rover 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Natan Girma 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Alex Mancini
“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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Reggiana pull $229.8K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Mattia Piermarini keeps the shirt for now, at Reggiana's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Reggiana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match8 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Francesco Vicari 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 ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Reggiana
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Reggiana is running low.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Francesco Vicari 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 ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Natan Girma 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 5.46, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A mark of 5.51 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Matteo Rover wants a proper job in this side
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Matteo Rover has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Reggiana know, and have known for weeks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
Francesco Vicari 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 ratings22 Mar 2027
A performance of 9.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 100% 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Alessandro Micai knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match20 Mar 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Modena leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Catanzaro paid $770.0K and Reggiana took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match29 Aug 2026
Monza left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Andrea Seculin 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 Andrea Seculin stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Erick Ciobanu, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A mark of 5.67 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.