Marked for Jonathan Spedalieri
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cagliari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Cagliari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Riyad Idrissi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Yerry Mina in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cagliari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Gianluca Gaetano has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cagliari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Cagliari
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Cagliari is running low.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Matteo Prati is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2027
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cagliari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Yerry Mina in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cagliari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
Cavese paid $120.0K and Cagliari took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market26 Jul 2027
Cittadella pay $140.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Gianluca Gaetano 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrea Belotti's mistake
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2027
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cagliari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Jul 2027
The fee is $8.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lecce drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Yerry Mina 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 Jul 2027
Sebastiano Esposito has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Cagliari spend $8.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $8.0M for Nikola Štulić, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alen Sherri, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2027
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cagliari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Yerry Mina in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cagliari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2027
Spezia pay $980.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market12 Jul 2027
Yari Pitzeri has left for Arzignano in a $84.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad12 Jul 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Pressure builds in the Cagliari boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cagliari heard it as anything else.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Yerry Mina 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2027
Cagliari say no — this time
The offer from VfL Wolfsburg for Gennaro Borrelli 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The chase for Jonathan Spedalieri ended with $2.5M changing hands and Renate out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Riyad Idrissi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Michael Folorunsho 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Mateusz Lesiewicz has left for Modena in a $140.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Semih Kılıçsoy 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Riyad Idrissi and Cagliari agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market14 Jun 2027
Pro Vercelli are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Cagliari will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
6 goals in 29 games at Cagliari — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Cagliari updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michele Marano
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
He is going to Cagliari, the club has $2.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Leonardo Graziani is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad17 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match15 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Renate right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad17 May 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Simone Auriletto 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.
Match15 May 2027
Renate get the job done against Trento
A 2‑1 win over Trento, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces17 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrea Bonetti 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Corrado Riviera, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Leonardo Graziani at his very best
Marked 8.58. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Renate.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad10 May 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Gianluca Rossi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Renate
Leonardo Graziani 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.
Squad10 May 2027
14 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Auriletto 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 terraces10 May 2027
At 21 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.
Match8 May 2027
Giana Erminio made Renate work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2027
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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Crisis meeting at Renate
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Player ratings3 May 2027
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings3 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Alejandro Vergaz at 21 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejandro Vergaz did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
A season average of 7.37 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Renate know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad3 May 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 May 2027
Joseph Ekuban comes back from a loan that worked
31 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Renate
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Auriletto 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 ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 108% of everything Renate 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.
Squad19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Match17 Apr 2027
Point won or two lost for Renate?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Union Brescia? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A brace, and Jonathan Spedalieri takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Spedalieri provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Leonardo Graziani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.94
A mark of 8.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match10 Apr 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Renate and Lumezzane in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Renate
Gianluca Esposito 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 terraces12 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Leonardo Graziani 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrea Bonetti
“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.
Match10 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
Upbeat
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Renate
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Renate is running low.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
31 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Lorenzo De Leo at 21 — 8.09
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo De Leo did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Paul Reverson is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad29 Mar 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Simone Auriletto 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 terraces29 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Paul Reverson 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Renate get the job done against Lecco
A 1‑0 win over Lecco, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Michele Calì: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Renate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 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 Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Simone Auriletto 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Nobile, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.71, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market15 Mar 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Renate signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Alejandro Vergaz at 20 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejandro Vergaz did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad8 Mar 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.34, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Delcarro and Renate agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Auriletto 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 ratings8 Mar 2027
Jonathan Spedalieri was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
At 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Renate boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Mike van Duinen, 35, rolls back the years — 9.42
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.42 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Leonardo Graziani at 21 — 8.61
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Leonardo Graziani did not need any: 8.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Lorenzo De Leo 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 terraces1 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo De Leo 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for Renate, 2‑0 the final word against Virtus Verona in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Renate
Filippo Vesentini 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑4 to Pergolettese, 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Leonardo Graziani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.01
A mark of 9.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Auriletto 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Renate
Tommaso Nobile 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
143% of the income goes out in wages at Renate
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
At 21 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Renate will not try tonight.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, Renate do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Simone Auriletto 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Paul Reverson 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo De Leo
“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 ratings15 Feb 2027
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Renate
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Renate is running low.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alejandro Vergaz has just signed for Renate, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match30 Jan 2027
8 unbeaten for Renate
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Renate did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Simone Auriletto 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 terraces1 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrea Bonetti 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Three points for Renate, 2‑0 the final word against Novara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 8.78. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Renate.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Renate
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Andrea Bonetti 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tommaso Nobile's mistake
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Renate
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Catanzaro come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Renate did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Leonardo Graziani at 21 — 7.97
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Leonardo Graziani did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Paul Reverson is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andrea Bonetti 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo De Zen, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Dec 2026
Wanderers come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Renate did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Andrea Delcarro, 33, rolls back the years — 9.21
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
24 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Tommaso Nobile 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Simone Suppa is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 357% of everything Renate 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Dec 2026
Renate are in real trouble now
Position 17, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Renate
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Renate are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a goal for Renate
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mike van Duinen 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Jeremías Martinet 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tommaso Nobile dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Nov 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.
Match23 Nov 2026
Renate sink to position 17
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Vicenza left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mike van Duinen 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
Renate throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with AlbinoLeffe the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Renate will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Andrea Delcarro, 33, rolls back the years — 8.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.86 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Renate
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrea Bonetti 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Auriletto, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Francesco Vassallo 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Leonardo Graziani 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 421% of everything Renate 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Sep 2026
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of 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.