Marked for Marco Imperiale
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Catanzaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match30 Sep 2028
5 matches without a win for Catanzaro
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Catanzaro are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Sep 2028
5 matches without a goal for Catanzaro
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jacopo Petriccione and Catanzaro agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Mehdi Dorval 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Mehdi Dorval beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benit Borasio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
A promise honoured at Catanzaro
Something was said to Marco Imperiale and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Catanzaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The offer went to Salernitana this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Catanzaro asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
ESTAC Troyes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market10 Jul 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bruno Verrengia has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Catanzaro.
Market10 Jul 2028
The name of Marco Imperiale keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Catanzaro say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
Still no name above the door at Catanzaro
Day 9 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Match8 Apr 2028
The goals have deserted Catanzaro
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Catanzaro can tell you which week it ends in.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
“I did not go to Picerno to sit and watch. I want to come back to Catanzaro and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Half-satisfied: Nicola Neri on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market10 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nicolò Brighenti has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Catanzaro.
Match8 Apr 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Mantova defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead10 Apr 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Frosinone in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market10 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Catanzaro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Mar 2028
A bad afternoon for Catanzaro against Bari
0‑1 to Bari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daniele Rossi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Catanzaro are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Catanzaro lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matias Antonini signs something — a contract at Catanzaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Mar 2028
Catanzaro have let the market know Santiago García can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Mattia De Sciglio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Catanzaro will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Mar 2028
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Cesena spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match11 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emanuele Pecorino. 2‑1 against Cesena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Mosti, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniele Rossi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad13 Mar 2028
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Catanzaro will feel it on Saturday.
Looking ahead13 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mehdi Dorval’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Catanzaro needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market13 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Catanzaro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market13 Mar 2028
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
The knee: Ervin Bashi out for 33 days
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Catanzaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match4 Dec 2027
6 matches without a win for Catanzaro
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Catanzaro are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marco Imperiale did the work nobody counts — 6.88
14 combined actions and 6.88. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Costantino Favasuli 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Buso, and the manager let it.
Match4 Dec 2027
0‑1 to Palermo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Wages eat 86% of everything Catanzaro earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Cristian Bunino is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
The knee: Ervin Bashi out for 40 days
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Catanzaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Catanzaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match27 Nov 2027
5 matches without a win for Catanzaro
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Catanzaro are no longer polite ones.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Mehdi Dorval and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Costantino Favasuli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Costantino Favasuli, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Nov 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniele Rossi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Leandro Ciccolini 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Oct 2027
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match23 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emanuele Pecorino. 1‑0 against Cesena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Oct 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 Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.64 on the card, and the Catanzaro support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Daniele Rossi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Gonçalo Esteves
“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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead25 Oct 2027
Bari next, and one man in the Catanzaro dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market25 Oct 2027
The name of Marco Imperiale keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Catanzaro say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Catanzaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match18 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Catanzaro
5 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.
Squad20 Sep 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 Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Costantino Favasuli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
7.07, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Catanzaro had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Half-satisfied: Daniele Rossi on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead20 Sep 2027
The leaders are next for Catanzaro
Torino top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 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 Catanzaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Catanzaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Catanzaro until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market6 Sep 2027
Alcorcón come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Catanzaro did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Catanzaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Costantino Favasuli 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gonçalo Esteves and Catanzaro agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Catanzaro than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout6 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
The paperwork is done: Youssouph Sylla joins from Latina in a deal worth $420.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Matias Antonini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Catanzaro asked and Sassuolo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emanuele Pecorino, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Francesco Ardizzone commits to Catanzaro for another 1 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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 Catanzaro know it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Catanzaro are still strangers to each other
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market2 Aug 2027
The name of Marco Imperiale keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Catanzaro say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Catanzaro. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Up for the corner, and Jacopo Petriccione delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jacopo Petriccione scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad5 Apr 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market5 Apr 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Catanzaro can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolò Brighenti and Catanzaro agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Catanzaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Ruggero 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Marco Imperiale at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Catanzaro.
Match3 Apr 2027
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match3 Apr 2027
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pietro Iemmello commits to Catanzaro for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Marco Ruggero 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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 Catanzaro know it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emanuele Pecorino, and the manager let it.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Mirko Pigliacelli knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout8 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniele Rossi to a room that had heard them before.
Market8 Mar 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Catanzaro has been clear about where Edoardo Borrelli stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Catanzaro
Mehdi Dorval 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Patrick Nuamah is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mehdi Dorval’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tommaso Cassandro has written the date down.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Looking ahead: Mantova at home
A side in position 16 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.