Marked for Luca Martinelli
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 May 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 The request is on a desk at Audace Cerignola, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match8 May 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Fausto Salicioni scored in the 88th minute, Giugliano had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Audace Cerignola took the lot.
Match8 May 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Alessandro Russo 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 terraces10 May 2027
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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 7.79. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Audace Cerignola are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Audace Cerignola
Position 17 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alessandro Russo 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
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.
Match17 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Monopoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Audace Cerignola's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Audace Cerignola has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luca Martinelli and Audace Cerignola agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Alessandro Russo 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Catania left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Audace Cerignola are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Alessandro Ligi 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Andrea Gasbarro 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jan 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 Audace Cerignola, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Audace Cerignola's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Audace Cerignola has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Audace Cerignola have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ligi 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Martinelli, and the manager let it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Casertana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 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 Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match12 Dec 2026
Sorrento left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
Andrea Gasbarro 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Martinelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 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 Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Audace Cerignola did not have in the autumn.
Match31 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Audace Cerignola can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Fausto Salicioni
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fausto Salicioni has come out of that comparison in the side, and Audace Cerignola have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Luca Martinelli
Nobody at Audace Cerignola is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andrea Gasbarro 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Riccardo Spaltro 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.29 on the card, and the Audace Cerignola support went home talking about one name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2026
Picerno ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match26 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Audace Cerignola are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 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 Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.67 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Audace Cerignola had the best player on the pitch.
Match26 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Perugia 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Martinelli and Audace Cerignola agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 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 Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Audace Cerignola training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Gasbarro 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.
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.