Marked for Davide Mancini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Audace Cerignola
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout29 May 2028
Gonzalo Coronel: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Audace Cerignola have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 May 2028
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Davide Mancini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad29 May 2028
Matteo Bachini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 May 2028
Luca Russo 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 Audace Cerignola, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad29 May 2028
Jake Waters 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Audace Cerignola boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 May 2028
Marco Meli honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Audace Cerignola had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad1 May 2028
336 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Audace Cerignola know what they have.
Squad1 May 2028
Stefano Greco 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.
Squad1 May 2028
The medical room confirms 50 days on the sidelines for Davide Mancini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout1 May 2028
A promise honoured for Luca Russo
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Audace Cerignola told Luca Russo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Ligi, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 May 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Jacopo Petriccione was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout1 May 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audace Cerignola can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
Gubbio come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Audace Cerignola did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Audace Cerignola have gone to Atalanta with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Audace Cerignola have gone to Inter with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Audace Cerignola go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market23 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arturo Calabrese is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.