16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
Andrea Vallocchia 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.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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.
Cristiano Furno 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 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.
90 minutes played. Stefano Pettinari found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Arezzo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefano Pettinari provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Stefano Pettinari has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ternana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Mario García 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marco Pagliari is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marco Pagliari 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Ferrante signs something — a contract at Ternana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Žan Majer 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.
Marco Pagliari 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Ferrante signs something — a contract at Ternana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Ternana, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Alexis Ferrante on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ternana and Pianese.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Simone D'Uffizi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Ternana training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothée Kolodziejczak 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.