Marked for Ido Berko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2031
Emiliano Lo Biundo damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Andrea Errico breaks a bone — 39 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market28 Jul 2031
The offer from Carpi for Guilherme Cardoso was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Andrea Tessiore 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ido Berko is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
Ho Sy Duc 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Guidonia Montecelio have made the call to Lecco. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
Aaron Nemane knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Guidonia Montecelio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jun 2031
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Guidonia Montecelio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Jun 2031
67 days out for Andrea Errico after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Guidonia Montecelio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Everything agreed with Lecco, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Andrea Tessiore 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
A move Alex Tiberi would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alex Tiberi is living that version at Guidonia Montecelio, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market30 Jun 2031
The name of Guilherme Cardoso has come up in conversations Guidonia Montecelio were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
The manager makes an example of Simone Tascone
“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
Uneasy
Squad26 May 2031
Emiliano Lo Biundo damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Squad26 May 2031
A fracture rules Andrea Errico out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Guidonia Montecelio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 May 2031
Andrea Tessiore 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Davide Zappella 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 dugout26 May 2031
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Boardroom26 May 2031
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout26 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Fərid Nəbiyev
“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 dugout26 May 2031
“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
Uneasy
Market28 Apr 2031
“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 Guidonia Montecelio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Andrea Tessiore 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Davide Zappella 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 dugout28 Apr 2031
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Boardroom28 Apr 2031
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
The manager makes an example of Aaron Nemane
“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.
Market28 Apr 2031
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Guidonia Montecelio has been clear about where Temitope Folarin stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
Ido Berko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Guidonia Montecelio will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Apr 2031
51 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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Squad21 Apr 2031
19 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match19 Apr 2031
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Guidonia Montecelio are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Diego Zuppel in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guidonia Montecelio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Guidonia Montecelio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Tascone 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.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Ninety minutes of Diego Zuppel at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Guidonia Montecelio.
Squad21 Apr 2031
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Guidonia Montecelio know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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Squad24 Mar 2031
Andrea Tessiore and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Zappella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Tascone, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Mar 2031
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Michele Ferri could afford to be generous.
Boardroom24 Mar 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Feb 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Guidonia Montecelio have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad17 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guidonia Montecelio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Vitturini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match15 Feb 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fərid Nəbiyev. 1‑0 against Ravenna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Michele Ferri could afford to be generous.
Squad17 Feb 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Guidonia Montecelio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Rojas, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead17 Feb 2031
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Paolo Frascatore’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Guidonia Montecelio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Nov 2030
52 days out for Stefano Negro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Guidonia Montecelio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market25 Nov 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 Guidonia Montecelio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Diego Zuppel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Vitturini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“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.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Michele Ferri to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“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
Steady
Squad28 Oct 2030
Stefano Negro breaks a bone — 80 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Oct 2030
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad28 Oct 2030
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Guidonia Montecelio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Oct 2030
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Guidonia Montecelio are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Oct 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 Guidonia Montecelio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Paolo Frascatore 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 dugout28 Oct 2030
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match26 Oct 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Carpi will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
Simone Tarolli 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 Simone Tarolli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 52. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Stefano Negro breaks a bone — 108 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match25 Sep 2030
A 2‑1 win over Cavese, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match28 Sep 2030
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match25 Sep 2030
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Cavese spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market30 Sep 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Guidonia Montecelio can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Ido Berko goes up and wins it — 7.35
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.35 for the rest of it.
Match28 Sep 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Andrea Tessiore 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
Upbeat
The dugout12 Aug 2030
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Market12 Aug 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 Guidonia Montecelio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Aug 2030
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Andrea Tessiore 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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Paolo Frascatore 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 targets12 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Aug 2030
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market12 Aug 2030
Fabio Teixeira is 20, and Guidonia Montecelio 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.
Boardroom12 Aug 2030
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.