Marked for Andrea Rispoli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Leon Klußmann: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match22 Sep 2027
Crotone march on in the cup
Foggia are out and Crotone go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match22 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Crotone
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad27 Sep 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market27 Sep 2027
Only the photograph left for Andrea Rispoli
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrea Rispoli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Crotone the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Andrea Gallo 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Corazza, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
The kick that got away from Nicolò Armini
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Crotone
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Guido Gomez 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.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match11 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“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.
Market13 Sep 2027
The Andrea Gallo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Gallo signs something — a contract at Crotone or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Crotone may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match28 Aug 2027
Still nobody has beaten Crotone
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Crotone is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Guido Gomez 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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 8.82 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 8.43 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad30 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Davide Gentile has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 Jul 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.
Market5 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 Crotone, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Guido Gomez 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Crotone signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market5 Jul 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market5 Jul 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Niccolò Cocetta, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Crotone pull $182.6K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 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 Crotone, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Guido Gomez 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 Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Vinícius 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andrea Rispoli has his answer from Crotone; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Antonino Musso 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A wage question at Crotone
Filippo Groppelli has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guido Gomez and Crotone agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Guido Gomez 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 Jun 2027
30 years old, every age group at this club behind him, and a borrowed player of much the same standard in front of him every Saturday. The parents in the stand have noticed, and so has every kid below him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Crotone pull $182.6K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market7 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andrea Galardo has his answer from Crotone; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
The stands have heard the Andrea Gallo talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Crotone would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Market7 Jun 2027
The name of Mattia Sandri keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Crotone say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 May 2027
Defensive actions: 35, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Boardroom3 May 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.
Squad3 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 Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 9.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match1 May 2027
Three points for Crotone, 2‑0 the final word against Monopoli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 May 2027
Leon Klußmann knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leon Klußmann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad3 May 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
$182.6K taken back off the Crotone table
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Squad
Matteo Maggio is not enjoying his job description
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Boardroom
Crotone were not finished after all
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Crotone
11 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Guido Gomez 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 Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Walter Guerra
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
26 years old, every age group at this club behind him, and a borrowed player of much the same standard in front of him every Saturday. The parents in the stand have noticed, and so has every kid below him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
“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 Crotone, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A defender's afternoon for Andrea Gallo
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match17 Oct 2026
7 unbeaten for Crotone
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Crotone did not have in the autumn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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 Crotone know it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Cristian Andreoni 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
The one thing Guido Gomez could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.