Marked for Jackson Morby
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Renate
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Renate is running low.
Market23 Jul 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market23 Jul 2029
Add another name to the list: Ascoli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dimitris Sounas. The answer from Renate has not changed — yet.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Jackson Morby is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Renate
Tommaso Nobile and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Dimitris Sounas 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Sampdoria will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Federico Marini has pre-agreed a move to Renate, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gian Luca Mastromonaco, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Renate
Tommaso Nobile and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Sounas 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.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Spini, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jackson Morby and Renate agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match24 Feb 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Renate counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Renate now.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Paolo Gardoni has become a man the manager trusts
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Player ratings
The one thing Lorenzo De Leo could not do
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Feb 2028
11 unbeaten for Renate
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Renate did not have in the autumn.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 Feb 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Renate can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Match19 Feb 2028
Pergolettese made Renate work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Sounas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Renate
Riccardo De Zen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Corrado Riviera has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Pérez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Feb 2028
10 unbeaten for Renate
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Renate did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Renate
Tommaso Nobile 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A season average of 7.26 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Carlo Attanasio has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Renate have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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 ratings14 Feb 2028
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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Lorenzo De Leo had Renate level again within 1 minutes, and Dolomiti Bellunesi never got to play with a lead at all.
Market14 Feb 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.