“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 The request is on a desk at Vis Pesaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirco Ceccacci 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Riccardo Zoia is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrahima Papa Wade signs something — a contract at Vis Pesaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Position 6, 45 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
82 graduates, from a department now rated 3 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirco Ceccacci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Bassem Marwan 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.
Nobody at Vis Pesaro will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrahima Papa Wade signs something — a contract at Vis Pesaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Vis Pesaro could ask drops and the wages Matteo Sorzi can ask rise.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vis Pesaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bautista Biondi 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Martin Jorgensen is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Campobasso in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrahima Papa Wade signs something — a contract at Vis Pesaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Matteo Sorzi’s negotiating for him
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
Somebody else is better right now than Matteo Sorzi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutNicolò Rota without the man who signed him
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Foggia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vis Pesaro is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirco Ceccacci 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Vis Pesaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑0 win over Vicenza, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
Bautista Biondi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vis Pesaro can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vis Pesaro can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vis Pesaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirco Ceccacci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tommaso Annoni 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.
Marked 7.11 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Position 13, 14 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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 dugout31 Dec 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Vis Pesaro dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirco Ceccacci 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vis Pesaro are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
Somebody else is better right now than Bassem Marwan
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Vis Pesaro will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Südtirol defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“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 Vis Pesaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Martin Jorgensen and Vis Pesaro agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Bassem Marwan 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vis Pesaro, another week without a signature from Matteo Sorzi.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirco Ceccacci 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vis Pesaro are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vis Pesaro will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luciano Fortunato’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vis Pesaro needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vis Pesaro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.