Marked for Simone Ianesi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 13 in, 0 out at Pianese
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Ianesi 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pescara have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emiliano Filippis, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Masetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Avellino 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Ianesi 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.
Transfer targets24 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Raffaele Russo is in the works
Pianese have made the call to Avellino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Forli: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Pianese say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Monza 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Simone Ianesi 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Pianese asked and Lecco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Franco Pinoni arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Franco Pinoni has, at Pianese, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Ianesi and Pianese agree another 4 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vincenzo Zangari 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alessandro Ricci 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dario Marchetti has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left Franco Pinoni behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pianese will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luca Fabrizi and Pianese agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Francesco Proietto 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Luca Fabrizi's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Pianese have made the call to Hellas Verona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Bologna: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.