Marked for Leo Reis
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Apr 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Samuel Cuka has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Bra
Franklyn Akammadu 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Bra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Mehic 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
Torres take the points off Bra
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Apr 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 ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alessandro Fiordaliso signs something — a contract at Bra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
Leo Reis keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bra may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Bra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eid Al-Hammadi 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Dino Mehic 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Honours even between Bra and Pianese
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market17 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franklyn Akammadu signs something — a contract at Bra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Jun 2027
The mood at Bra 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mattia Leoncini is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Bra
Franklyn Akammadu 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Jacopo Sassi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Bra
Enrico Baldini 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 May 2027
Bra sink to position 17
29 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad17 May 2027
Giorgio Lionetti: 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.” Bra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 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 Bra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2027
Kayden Lucas: 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.” Bra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 May 2027
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Enrico Baldini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Bra's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bra has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 Apr 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Gianmarco Di Biase, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.25
A mark of 8.25 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
At 21 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Fiordaliso, and the manager let it.
Match10 Apr 2027
Honours even between Bra and Torres
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Bra's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bra has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Bra boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market29 Mar 2027
Leo Reis 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 Bra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Bra
Franklyn Akammadu 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.
Squad29 Mar 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
0‑1 to Sambenedettese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Giorgio Lionetti 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Bra
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bra is running low.
Market1 Mar 2027
Leo Reis 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 Bra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Bra
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Feb 2027
Ravenna take the points off Bra
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Eros De Santis
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Home is on Leo Reis's mind
“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; Bra are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Riccardo Campedelli 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
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Bra
6 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Leo Reis keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bra may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match9 Jan 2027
Bra cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Bra
Enrico Baldini 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.