Marked for Davit Khelaia
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Everything agreed with Fiorentina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad22 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monopoli have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edis Međedović, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Jul 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Südtirol can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
Wages swallow 85% of the Südtirol income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Jul 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torres have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jul 2030
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
7 new boys at the Südtirol academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maurizio Scravaglieri is on it.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Carlesi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Apr 2030
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.86, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market8 Apr 2030
Andrea Giorgini wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Südtirol hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Apr 2030
Three points for Südtirol, 2‑0 the final word against Palermo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Youssef Marei
“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.
Market8 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulay Barry was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Merani
Nodar Kavtaradze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Merani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Daraselia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nika Daraselia is on it.