Marked for Giulio Bertolini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Feb 2034
Ivano Kolarik 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 Parma can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout27 Feb 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Parma may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market27 Feb 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Parma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Feb 2034
Karlo Pajsar 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 Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Feb 2034
Faustino Anjorin 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 dugout27 Feb 2034
The manager makes an example of Denis Portanova
“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 dugout27 Feb 2034
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Parma told Rachid Kouda something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings27 Feb 2034
Marked 7.85. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad27 Feb 2034
The formation has left Salifou Sylla behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Parma will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Feb 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Parma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market13 Feb 2034
“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.
Market13 Feb 2034
So close: Kevin Fustini’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Pescara moved on, Kevin Fustini reports back to Parma, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets13 Feb 2034
The clock did what Palermo would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad13 Feb 2034
A falling-out at Parma
Damián van der Vaart and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Feb 2034
A row about effort at Parma
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rachid Kouda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings13 Feb 2034
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.
Transfer targets13 Feb 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Udinese have kept their man, and Parma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match11 Feb 2034
Three points for Parma, 2‑0 the final word against Frosinone in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Oct 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Parma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market3 Oct 2033
Ruan 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 Parma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Oct 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Oct 2033
Words at Parma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faustino Anjorin 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 dugout3 Oct 2033
Karlo Pajsar 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.
Match1 Oct 2033
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market3 Oct 2033
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Parma, another week without a signature from Rachid Kouda.
Squad3 Oct 2033
“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 Parma know it.
The dugout3 Oct 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Sep 2033
The wait goes on for Parma
6 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.
Market12 Sep 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Parma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market12 Sep 2033
“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.
Market12 Sep 2033
The bid was some way short and Parma did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Sep 2033
The deal that would have taken Juan Benítez to Lecco has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Parma with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad12 Sep 2033
Tempers go at Parma
Damián van der Vaart 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.
Squad12 Sep 2033
Words at Parma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rachid Kouda 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.
Boardroom12 Sep 2033
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Francesco Sena has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Parma have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets12 Sep 2033
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Rachid Kouda
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Match
A bad afternoon for Parma against Bari
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Squad
Home is on Ruan's mind