Marked for Peter Green
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 2028
Peter Green hands in a written request
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tjaš Begić 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Abdoul Bane 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 May 2028
No sign of nerves from Jamal Iddrissou at 20 — 8.17
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jamal Iddrissou did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market15 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrea Padalino will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pergolettese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 May 2028
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match13 May 2028
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tjaš Begić 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Zaid Jaouhari 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.
Match13 May 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jamal Iddrissou. 2‑0 against Ospitaletto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 May 2028
One of those days for Tjaš Begić
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaid Jaouhari, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Apr 2028
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad17 Apr 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pergolettese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pergolettese know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tjaš Begić 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samuele Careccia. 3‑1 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Lucas Jetten ran the middle of the pitch — 7.46
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.46, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
At 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Nobody could get near Tjaš Begić
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Apr 2028
Peter Green hands in a written request
“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.
Market10 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pergolettese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pergolettese know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Jetten 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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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 Pergolettese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pergolettese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tommaso Silvestri has agreed terms with Cesena for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tjaš Begić 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.
Squad13 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 terraces13 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Jetten has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“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.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Pergolettese support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Nobody could get near Tjaš Begić
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Lucas Jetten 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Peter Green gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Peter Green has just signed for Pergolettese, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
Mantova will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Federico Saccani has pre-agreed a move to Pergolettese, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Pergolettese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuele Careccia 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
“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.