Marked for Ibourahima Baldé
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Giugliano 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.
Match24 May 2027
Giugliano are in real trouble now
Position 15, 26 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market24 May 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 Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Laezza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Giugliano
Francesco De Francesco 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 dugout24 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 Giugliano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Giugliano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market24 May 2027
Giugliano have made Ibourahima Baldé available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout24 May 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Salvatore La Vardera plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2027
Giugliano interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Simone Paganelli keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giugliano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roberto De Rosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 May 2027
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.
Market3 May 2027
Giugliano have made Pedro Justiniano available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Giugliano 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.
Match26 Apr 2027
Giugliano sink to position 15
26 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giugliano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Luigi D'Avino 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 dugout26 Apr 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 Giugliano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Giugliano's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giugliano has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibourahima Baldé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Giugliano
Something was said to Ibourahima Baldé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Riccardo Barbieri chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match20 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Casarano will be the happier side with the point.
Market22 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Luciano Peluso’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Giugliano squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 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 Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad15 Mar 2027
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match13 Mar 2027
4 matches without a win for Giugliano
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Giugliano are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Giugliano
Giuliano Laezza 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
2‑3 to Foggia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Borello 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Improta, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Giugliano
Something was said to Jérémie Broh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Supporters organise against the Giugliano 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.
Match1 Mar 2027
Giugliano are in real trouble now
Position 16, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Giugliano boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Bari, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad1 Mar 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; Giugliano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Giuliano Laezza 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luciano Peluso, and the manager let it.
Boardroom1 Mar 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.
The dugout1 Mar 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Riccardo Barbieri to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Pedro Justiniano 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over Monopoli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Murilo takes the honours
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Giugliano had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout15 Feb 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Looking ahead15 Feb 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Crotone in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The plan did not have a place for Pedro Justiniano
Nobody at Giugliano 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
Crisis
Market11 Jan 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 Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Giugliano
6 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giugliano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Giuliano Laezza 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Giugliano asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Stefano Greco
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Pedro Justiniano 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 dugout11 Jan 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Riccardo Barbieri to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Stefano Cester: 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.” Giugliano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Giuliano Laezza 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roberto Zammarini, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Giugliano caught on 91 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Audace Cerignola scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Jérémie Broh 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Riccardo Barbieri chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
An afternoon Jérémie Broh will want back
Marked 4.90. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Giuliano Laezza 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 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.
The dugout14 Dec 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 0‑2 Riccardo Barbieri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Murilo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Audace Cerignola in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A wage question at Giugliano
Roberto Zammarini 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Giugliano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giugliano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Giuliano Laezza 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Giugliano, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roberto De Rosa, and the manager let it.
Market12 Oct 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giuseppe D'Agostino’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Giugliano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Antonio Amato damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Laezza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roberto Ogunseye. 2‑1 against Altamura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match3 Oct 2026
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mattia Rigo makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.” Riccardo Barbieri, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings5 Oct 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
Steady
Squad17 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 Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Giugliano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Murilo remains an outsider
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Giugliano would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Jérémie Broh
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Giugliano would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Market17 Aug 2026
Jérémie Broh's people are making calls
“He needs to be playing at a level that matches him, and we are open to conversations.” Nobody says that by accident, and nobody at Giugliano misheard it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Genoa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giuliano Laezza commits to Giugliano for another 2 years.
Squad10 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 Giugliano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Giuliano Laezza 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SM Caen have kept their man, and Giugliano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Achille Rocca is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Giorgio Martinelli has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicolò Tedesco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.