Marked for Alessandro Farroni
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nicola Valente damages knee ligaments — 135 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
Match8 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Siracusa
Position 19 and 17 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Siracusa
8 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
The goals have deserted Siracusa
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Siracusa can tell you which week it ends in.
Market8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nicola Valente 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Potenza left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicola Valente
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siracusa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at Siracusa 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Siracusa
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Giulio Frisenna in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad1 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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Raised voices on the training ground at Siracusa
It involved Giulio Frisenna, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at Siracusa 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Siracusa
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Siracusa is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Siracusa can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matteo Zanini breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Siracusa
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Siracusa
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Siracusa can tell you which week it ends in.
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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Federico Pacciardi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Siracusa.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Giugliano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Matteo Zanini out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siracusa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match4 Nov 2026
The small margins put Siracusa out
Out, 0‑3 to AS Roma, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Siracusa's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Siracusa has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Nov 2026
Siracusa cannot find the net
8 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.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
Siracusa are taken apart by AS Roma — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Paul Ojeh: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Siracusa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Benevento, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Matteo Zanini out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siracusa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Catania, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Siracusa
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Siracusa are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a goal for Siracusa
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Giulio Frisenna 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.
In brief
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Squad
No hiding place for Simone Iob
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Siracusa dressing room in a hurry
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Boardroom
103% of the income goes out in wages at Siracusa
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Matteo Zanini out for 116 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siracusa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Siracusa
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Siracusa are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a goal for Siracusa
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bryan Bonucci is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad19 Oct 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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Crotone left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Sep 2026
Siracusa march on in the cup
Cosenza are out and Siracusa go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Matteo Zanini out for 137 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siracusa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Siracusa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Farroni, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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 Siracusa will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market28 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gianluca Contini signs something — a contract at Siracusa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
419 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maiko Candiano and Siracusa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nicola Valente 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.