Position 16 and 11 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ospitaletto had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Pergolettese 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Giana Erminio, another week without a signature from Jacopo Nelli.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Giana Erminio are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Felipe Ávila and Giana Erminio agree another 2 years.
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Giana Erminio offered $51.0K; Bologna said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giana Erminio have done the hard part with Mantova, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Zenti and Giana Erminio agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Giana Erminio offered $60.0K; Forli said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Casarano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Giana Erminio have gone to Forli with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Joseph Jeon 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.
Alcione Milano wanted more than $140.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The phone has started ringing about Nicolas Accoroni again, and this time the name on the line is Forli. Giana Erminio are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Ballabio 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutJacopo Nelli knocks on the manager’s door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
$140.0K on the table at Alcione Milano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Giana Erminio will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Giana Erminio is running low.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Avellino for Federico Renda was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Marcos Curado's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giana Erminio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matteo Marotta and Giana Erminio agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Federico Renda has his answer from Giana Erminio; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 16 on 11 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giana Erminio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marcos Curado 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Jacopo Nelli 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giana Erminio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bautista Tagliani 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Luca Ferri will call it something else in private.
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
The terraces2 Apr 2029
The mood at Giana Erminio 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.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Joseph Jeon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Giana Erminio know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Interim Coach leaves with $41.4K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
7.55, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Joseph Jeon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giana Erminio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
10 combined actions and 7.07. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martim Pinto and Giana Erminio agree another 4 years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“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; Giana Erminio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Ballabio 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.
Giana Erminio offered $560.0K; Catanzaro said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Marcos Curado 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Jacopo Nelli 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.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Jacopo Nelli, marked 7.68, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everything agreed with Giugliano, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
4 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catania have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Jacopo Nelli 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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
$120.0K on the table at Pergolettese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
“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.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Joseph Jeon, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Luca Ferri 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
15 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Giana Erminio can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Michele Cirasella 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 words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
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.
Joseph Jeon 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 Nov 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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.
“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; Giana Erminio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
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 Filippo Di Stefano to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
Jacopo Nelli 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Arzignano in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Giana Erminio 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Giana Erminio. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The mood at Giana Erminio 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexander Zenti and Giana Erminio agree another 5 years.
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.
Position 16 and 2 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.
6 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giana Erminio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Joseph Jeon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The mood at Giana Erminio 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.
This is not rotation. Bautista Tagliani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Nelli 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.
Federico Renda 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Lecco next, and one man in the Giana Erminio dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giana Erminio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexander Zenti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giana Erminio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Ballabio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Giana Erminio has been clear about where Bautista Tagliani stands, which is more than many ever get.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Giana Erminio interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Filippo Di Stefano keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It finished 1-4. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Giana Erminio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Catania, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The deal with Pescara is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Giana Erminio offered $940.0K; Udinese said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Mclloyd Oben 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giana Erminio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Giana Erminio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 15 and 18 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.
The offer went to Napoli 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Albertini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giana Erminio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Gennaro Vignali has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giana Erminio have done the hard part with Pro Vercelli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$940.0K on the table at Udinese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Napoli were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Potenza have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luca Ferri
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Pro Vercelli have accepted the money. What Giana Erminio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The phone has started ringing about Luigi Samele again, and this time the name on the line is Ascoli. Giana Erminio are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
$960.0K on the table at Udinese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 15 and 18 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.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catanzaro have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giana Erminio have made the call to Perugia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giana Erminio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
Joseph Jeon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Giana Erminio have made the call to Potenza. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Trento for Luigi Samele was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Virtus Entella, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to Udinese 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.
Joseph Jeon 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Nelli 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Gennaro Vignali has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Everything agreed with Carrarese, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Everybody at Giana Erminio saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
Milan Sekera 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.
In brief
The dugoutMclloyd Oben asks for a word with the manager
Position 15 and 18 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.
Matteo Marotta 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Giana Erminio is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad22 May 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexander Zenti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giana Erminio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giana Erminio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
Joseph Jeon 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giana Erminio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giana Erminio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 15 and 18 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giana Erminio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Joseph Jeon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Albertini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.50, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jacopo Nelli will call it something else in private.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Gennaro Vignali has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Renate had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Giana Erminio did not stop to explain themselves.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Salvatore Amato has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Giana Erminio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gennaro Vignali after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Marcos Curado 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.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
0‑1 to Lumezzane, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Nelli 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everybody at Giana Erminio saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jacopo Nelli.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Giana Erminio is running low.
Giana Erminio offered $1.2M; Udinese said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Giana Erminio have gone to Catanzaro with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuele Magni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giana Erminio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giana Erminio have done the hard part with Sampdoria, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padova have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Giana Erminio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giana Erminio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer went to Catanzaro 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.
“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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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 mood at Giana Erminio 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The deal with Udinese is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giana Erminio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Minute 90, against AlbinoLeffe, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Gennaro Vignali has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 15 and 8 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.
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Nelli 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.
Position 15, 5 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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 Gennaro Vignali left the room before anybody could ask which.
0‑1 to Pro Vercelli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Samuele Magni 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Giana Erminio told Marco Ballabio something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matteo Marotta’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Giana Erminio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bautista Tagliani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mirko Castagnini 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.
It needed Luigi Samele to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Renate, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gennaro Vignali was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Giana Erminio dressing room was either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Position 15 and 4 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Giana Erminio
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Alcione Milano ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Giana Erminio equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Jacopo Nelli 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.
“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 dugout29 Nov 2027
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 0‑1 Gennaro Vignali left the room before anybody could ask which.
The mood at Giana Erminio 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Giana Erminio know it.
Marcos Curado 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutMatteo Marotta asks for a word with the manager
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacopo Nelli 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giana Erminio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bautista Tagliani 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Christian Mora has his answer from Giana Erminio; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The captaincy has been taken off Matteo Marotta. Giana Erminio will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gennaro Vignali was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Giana Erminio dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joseph Jeon did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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; Giana Erminio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Joseph Jeon 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.
A 2‑0 win over Ospitaletto, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Jacopo Nelli 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.
Mirko Castagnini 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.
14 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
0‑3 to Trento, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Joseph Jeon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Nelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
Nobody left the Giana Erminio dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.