Marked for Bright van Dijk
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at Siracusa 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.
Market4 Jan 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.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Siracusa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Siracusa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match2 Jan 2027
Siracusa caught on 87 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Giugliano scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Arezzo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Monza: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Siracusa
Nicola Valente and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Dec 2026
Three points for Siracusa, 1‑0 the final word against Cavese in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Appearance number 100 for Simone Iob
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
110% of the income goes out in wages at Siracusa
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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Siracusa had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Domenico Bartoli could afford to be generous.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑3 to Altamura, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Siracusa's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Siracusa has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Siracusa
Nicola Valente and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Siracusa
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad30 Nov 2026
200 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
105% of the income goes out in wages at Siracusa
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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Domenico Bartoli left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nowhere to hide for Siracusa
0‑3 against Salernitana, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Siracusa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nicola Valente 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Cosenza next, and one man in the Siracusa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Benevento left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Roberto Spinelli has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Domenico Bartoli left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market9 Nov 2026
Bright van Dijk is 17, and Siracusa 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Siracusa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Salernitana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Siracusa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.