Marked for Frédéric Veseli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Oct 2027
1‑4 to Sambenedettese, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Livorno
Lucas Villafañez 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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.
Match30 Oct 2027
The goal that put Sambenedettese ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Livorno equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Too much change too quickly at Livorno
7 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Raffaele Locatelli to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Thomas Pompei is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Oct 2027
4‑1, and Davide Stabile took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Livorno tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The match ball belongs to Davide Stabile, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad18 Oct 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 Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Davide Stabile at his very best
Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Livorno.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Raffaele Locatelli, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match2 Oct 2027
At last: Livorno win one
14 matches without a win, and then this, against Ravenna. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad4 Oct 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Frédéric Veseli and Livorno agree another 2 years.
Match2 Oct 2027
Ravenna made Livorno work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mario Noce, and the manager let it.
Market4 Oct 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Livorno had the best player on the pitch.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Livorno are still strangers to each other
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Livorno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Valerio Aureli is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 16 in, 10 out at Livorno
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
$48.0K on the table at Giugliano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Virtus Entella have kept their man, and Livorno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Livorno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moses Odjer 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and Livorno are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market6 Sep 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Livorno signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Livorno's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Livorno has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
The mood at Livorno has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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 Livorno, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Livorno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Livorno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Fayed, and the manager let it.
Match28 Aug 2027
Gubbio left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Filippo Tani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filippo Tani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Livorno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Miguel Ángel Martínez commits to Livorno for another 2 years.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Livorno asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Livorno, another week without a signature from Diego Peralta.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Livorno are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moses Odjer, and the manager let it.
Market9 Aug 2027
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Livorno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Pressure builds in the Livorno boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Raffaele Locatelli has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
Supporters organise against the Livorno board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 Livorno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miguel Ángel Martínez and Livorno agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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; Livorno are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Peralta, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Livorno
Salvatore Monaco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
“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 Livorno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$83.0K settles it between the clubs for Mattia Magalotti
Fiorentina have accepted the money. What Livorno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Como, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Biondi and Livorno agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Kevin Biondi
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
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.
Market7 Jun 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 Livorno can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Livorno
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Giacomo Gabbiani is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Radnicki Nis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2027
No place for Anass Hamite in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Livorno are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 86% of the Livorno income
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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Tosto
“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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Samuele Regazzetti's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Frédéric Veseli 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Matteo Bachini
“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 dugout24 May 2027
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 Christ Jesus Mawete is on it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes Diego Peralta a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Livorno. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nicola Falasco asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad24 May 2027
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout3 May 2027
Giacomo Gabbiani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Livorno 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 dugout3 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Livorno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Capparella, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 39, with 656 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
7 matches without a win for Livorno
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Livorno are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.90, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giacomo Gabbiani is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Raffaele Locatelli after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Federico Dionisi
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Federico Dionisi.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Giacomo Gabbiani is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Livorno's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Livorno has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Market15 Mar 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Davide Gentile has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Livorno.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Di Carmine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Mar 2027
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Gregorio Luperini will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Livorno escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Giacomo Gabbiani is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Livorno's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Livorno has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Frédéric Veseli and Livorno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Dionisi, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Livorno
Salvatore Monaco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Mar 2027
It needed Gregorio Luperini to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Perugia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Livorno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Samuel Di Carmine will call it something else in private.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A mark of 7.27, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Mario Noce
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Raffaele Locatelli was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Livorno dressing room was either.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Sambenedettese came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market22 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Manuele Malotti signs something — a contract at Livorno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 7.89 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
No thanks: Ivan Nevistić rejects the move
Livorno had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad15 Feb 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 Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Giacomo Gabbiani scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Pineto, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad15 Feb 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Livorno lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Livorno told Davide Gentile something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Matteo Bachini
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with AS Roma 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Livorno say no — this time
The offer from FC Villefranche for Tim Väyrynen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Livorno have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Davide Gentile commits to Livorno for another 4 years.
Market11 Jan 2027
Nicola Falasco is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Livorno has been clear about where Nicola Falasco stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Luca Bonassi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Livorno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Giacomo Gabbiani is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Manuele Malotti. 2‑1 against Latina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 116% of everything Livorno earn
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.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Livorno
Position 9, 19 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Livorno had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Raffaele Locatelli on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenzo Malagrida and Livorno agree another 4 years.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Jacopo Seghetti is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Diego Peralta 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 Livorno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Manuele Malotti’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Kevin Biondi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 9. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livorno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Livorno
4 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livorno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Raffaele Locatelli left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Gregorio Luperini's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Livorno lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livorno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Vis Pesaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuele Regazzetti, and the manager let it.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Livorno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ospitaletto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Danko Ciobanu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Giacomo Gabbiani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Livorno 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Seghetti
“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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Livorno
Matteo Bachini 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Livorno are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Livorno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Ospitaletto to sit and watch. I want to come back to Livorno and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Livorno
Salvatore Monaco 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Livorno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Livorno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livorno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Pescara, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Luca Bonassi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Bonassi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Livorno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
164% of the income goes out in wages at Livorno
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frédéric Veseli, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Livorno dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market5 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Salvatore Monaco has his answer from Livorno; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livorno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Livorno
Frédéric Veseli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Giacomo Gabbiani is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match19 Sep 2026
Forli left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Raffaele Locatelli after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicola Falasco
“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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Livorno take on the side everybody is chasing
Reggiana arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livorno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Livorno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ospitaletto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Raffaele Locatelli was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Livorno dressing room was either.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Torres will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tommaso Arrigoni’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Livorno needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 115 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Livorno can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Livorno close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Luca Bonassi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Bonassi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Livorno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tim Väyrynen is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tim Väyrynen has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Diego Peralta asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Diego Peralta moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Livorno than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Market7 Sep 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Zaccaria Hamlili leaves Livorno the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The deal that would have taken Riccardo Capparella to Benevento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Livorno with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Livorno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Frédéric Veseli
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Livorno are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Manuele Malotti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Gubbio, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Livorno have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Livorno did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Frédéric Veseli and Livorno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Frédéric Veseli 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Filippo Tani again, and this time the name on the line is Ospitaletto. Livorno are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Livorno
11 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.