The Venezia Chronicle
Match8 May 2028
Venezia are in real trouble now
Position 20, 25 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match6 May 2028
The wait goes on for Venezia
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Venezia spell it out for Angelo Ranieri
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Angelo Ranieri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 May 2028
Simon Harrasser puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Venezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The Venezia 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Juan Jesus stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Jesus and Venezia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 May 2028
Venezia come up short against Napoli
Napoli left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Kevin Cannavò runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 May 2028
Bartol Franjić 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.
In brief
- Squad Tempers go at Venezia
- The dugout Alessandro Pietrelli gets it from the manager
- Squad Venezia count the cost of losing Antonio Paganelli