Marked for Anders Gussiås
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Oct 2028
Anger at Pergolettese 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
20 days out for Orazio Fontana after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pergolettese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michael De Marchi and Pergolettese agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niccolò Corti 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 dugout9 Oct 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 ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Oct 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Anders Gussiås has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Pergolettese.
Market9 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Oct 2028
A fracture rules Orazio Fontana out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pergolettese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match30 Sep 2028
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Pergolettese — 7.94
1 for Mattia Capoferri, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“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 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael De Marchi and Pergolettese agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niccolò Corti 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Anders Gussiås 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Niccolò Corti. 2‑0 against Giana Erminio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2028
7 matches without a win for Pergolettese
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Pergolettese are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Sep 2028
57 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market18 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pergolettese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
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.
Match16 Sep 2028
1‑3 to Dolomiti Bellunesi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niccolò Corti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Anders Gussiås and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Anders Gussiås
“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 dugout18 Sep 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces11 Sep 2028
Anger at Pergolettese 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pergolettese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Sep 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Ospitaletto moved on, Mattia Rossetti reports back to Pergolettese, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael De Marchi 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 targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Potenza have kept their man, and Pergolettese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Anders Gussiås 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pergolettese, another week without a signature from Zaid Jaouhari.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pergolettese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Owen Bickley commits to Pergolettese for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Sep 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pergolettese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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.
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Pergolettese's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pergolettese has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Sep 2028
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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Pergolettese until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Everything agreed with Union Brescia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Cristian Dell'Orco 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michael De Marchi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Pergolettese asked and Carrarese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2028
Niccolò Corti damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
The terraces22 May 2028
The mood at Pergolettese 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.
Match22 May 2028
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad22 May 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Michael De Marchi 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.
Squad22 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Galardo and Pergolettese agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Niccolò Corti
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pergolettese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Giulio Neri has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pergolettese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout8 May 2028
“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.
Market8 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pergolettese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cristian Dell'Orco and Pergolettese agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Niccolò Corti 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michael De Marchi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Anders Gussiås
“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 dugout8 May 2028
Niccolò Corti 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Niccolò Corti
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pergolettese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Pergolettese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 May 2028
Niccolò Corti 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Michael De Marchi 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 dugout1 May 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.
Squad1 May 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Pergolettese will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces27 Mar 2028
Anger at Pergolettese 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.
Match27 Mar 2028
Every point is an argument now for Pergolettese
Position 15 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad27 Mar 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Niccolò Corti
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Antolini 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Linus Heggestad, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Pergolettese would like this to lead.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Renate next, and one man in the Pergolettese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The terraces27 Mar 2028
Supporters make their feelings known about Lorenzo Cordaro
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Pergolettese would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Anders Gussiås knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anders Gussiås trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
Samuele Careccia damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Supporters organise against the Pergolettese 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.
Match6 Dec 2027
Every point is an argument now for Pergolettese
Position 16 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match4 Dec 2027
7 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Pressure builds in the Pergolettese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Gael Delgado is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Michael De Marchi 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Cordaro
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2027
The small margins put Pergolettese out
Out, 0‑2 to Benevento, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Sep 2027
7 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Pergolettese are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael De Marchi 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Carpi left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Sep 2027
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Anders Gussiås 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Antolini
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Jacob Lara's mistake decides it
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Hamzat Balogun 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. Hamzat Balogun has, at Pergolettese, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad31 May 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
32 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriele Pessolani 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.
Market31 May 2027
Anders Gussiås is 20, and Pergolettese have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market31 May 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Pergolettese signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Rossetti, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Luca Milesi 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.
Market31 May 2027
Pergolettese shop where it costs nothing
Hamzat Balogun signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.