Marked for Andrej Modric
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Aug 2036
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Giugliano can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom4 Aug 2036
The Giugliano board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market4 Aug 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Aug 2036
364 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Giugliano know exactly what they have.
Squad4 Aug 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Suppa and Giugliano agree another 4 years.
Squad4 Aug 2036
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Szymczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Aug 2036
The owner puts $186.7K into Giugliano
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecco have kept their man, and Giugliano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Aug 2036
Fernando Da Rosa 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
Emergency meeting at Giugliano
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Jul 2036
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giugliano have done the hard part with Torres, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2036
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Carpi is saying, and nobody at Giugliano is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
$244.9K from the owner keeps Giugliano afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecco have kept their man, and Giugliano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jul 2036
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Ressia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Words exchanged at Giugliano
Duccio Vanni 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Jun 2036
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2036
The deal with Catanzaro is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2036
Giugliano had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fiorentina, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Jun 2036
Filip Szymczak 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 targets9 Jun 2036
Giugliano asked and Torres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Jun 2036
Giulio Patrignani 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.
Boardroom9 Jun 2036
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout9 Jun 2036
“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.
Market9 Jun 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 May 2036
Giugliano refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad26 May 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 May 2036
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Ferrigno 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.
Market26 May 2036
“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.
Market26 May 2036
The Simone Suppa talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Giugliano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 May 2036
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giugliano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Apr 2036
Giugliano refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market28 Apr 2036
“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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Pedro Justiniano for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Giugliano will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad28 Apr 2036
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Szymczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
The manager makes an example of Carlo Rossetti
“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 dugout28 Apr 2036
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Giugliano told Boyan Slavchev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market28 Apr 2036
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Giugliano money.
Market28 Apr 2036
The Simone Suppa talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Giugliano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Mar 2036
47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market31 Mar 2036
Andrej Modric 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 Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Szymczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
“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.
Market31 Mar 2036
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Giugliano money.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Félix Tomi 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 Félix Tomi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
Giugliano keep producing them
83 graduates from an academy now rated 3 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Giugliano and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Looking ahead31 Mar 2036
They sit in position 6 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2036
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giugliano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match7 Jan 2036
Giugliano are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 29 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.89, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad7 Jan 2036
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.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giugliano have done the hard part with Cagliari, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Szymczak 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.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
The owner puts $279.9K into Giugliano
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ramahlwe Furman
142 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giugliano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Nov 2035
“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 dugout19 Nov 2035
“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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Giulio Patrignani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2035
The decline has begun for Félix Tomi
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Giugliano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thorgan Vertonghen 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 dugout19 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramahlwe Furman, and the manager let it.
Market19 Nov 2035
The name of Simone Suppa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Giugliano say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Francesco Costantini has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Oct 2035
Andrej Modric 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 Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Oct 2035
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Szymczak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Oct 2035
The decline has begun for Sorba Thomas
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Giugliano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words exchanged at Giugliano
Giulio Patrignani 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
Giugliano are $19.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Too much change too quickly at Giugliano
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Filip Szymczak 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 Filip Szymczak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Oct 2035
“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.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Félix Tomi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Nov 2034
The medical room confirms 67 days on the sidelines for Denys Kondratiuk, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Pedro Justiniano 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.
Squad20 Nov 2034
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo-Noël Dodé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Nov 2034
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Giugliano will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market20 Nov 2034
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Giugliano money.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2034
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Foggia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market20 Nov 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Simone Suppa’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
The manager makes Heinz Alaba a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Giugliano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.