Marked for Alessandro Falleni
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Jul 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Catanzaro
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Catanzaro is running low.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gonçalo Esteves had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Catanzaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Catanzaro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
$73.0K on the table at Juve Stabia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Catanzaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Costantino Favasuli 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 targets30 Jul 2029
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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Federico Di Francesco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market30 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Simone Palombi again, and this time the name on the line is Ravenna. Catanzaro are listening politely and promising nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Catanzaro people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Catanzaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Catanzaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
$86.0K was the most the club would pay and Renate 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.
Market23 Jul 2029
Lumezzane paid $54.0K and Catanzaro took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Catanzaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Di Francesco 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 targets23 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to Juventus: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Catanzaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Catanzaro have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Catanzaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
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 targets16 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Catanzaro have done the hard part with Spezia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The offer went to Renate this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Cosenza wanted more than $83.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market16 Jul 2029
The name of Giuseppe Coppola has come up in conversations Catanzaro were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Costantino Favasuli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Jul 2029
The mood at Catanzaro 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
The knee: Mauro Bruni out for 20 days
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Catanzaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Catanzaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
$4.0M 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Frosinone; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market9 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Catanzaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mirko Pigliacelli commits to Catanzaro for another 2 years.
Market9 Jul 2029
Padova paid $760.0K and Catanzaro took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Mar 2029
Every point is an argument now for Catanzaro
Position 20 and 17 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Catanzaro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Catanzaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Costantino Favasuli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Mar 2029
3 matches without a goal for Catanzaro
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match24 Mar 2029
Virtus Entella left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Mattia De Sciglio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jul 2028
Catanzaro say no — this time
The offer from Giana Erminio for Nicola Mosti 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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Catanzaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Costantino Favasuli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Catanzaro asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Gonçalo Esteves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Michael Liguori
“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 Jul 2028
Catanzaro are still strangers to each other
17 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan move for Saba Sazonov is in the works
Catanzaro have made the call to Lecce. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Catanzaro can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Catanzaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Catanzaro have done the hard part with Alcione Milano, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Catanzaro have gone to Juventus 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
The chase for Pedro Paulo ended with $280.0K changing hands and Potenza out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Catanzaro asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Catanzaro
Rodrigo Meccia 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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
Squad15 Nov 2027
Marin Pongračić 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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mattia De Sciglio commits to Catanzaro for another 2 years.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I watch every Catanzaro game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Südtirol runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Nov 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 Catanzaro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Catanzaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Falleni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Zanellati, and the manager let it.
Market15 Nov 2027
The Mehdi Dorval talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Catanzaro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Südtirol in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
When it matters, Ewerton plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Oct 2027
Chastening afternoon for Catanzaro
A 1‑4 beating by Carrarese was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Catanzaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match30 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Catanzaro
7 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Marin Pongračić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ervin Bashi and Catanzaro agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sandro Fiorini after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Catanzaro will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
Mehdi Dorval 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 Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Too much change too quickly at Catanzaro
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Wages eat 86% of everything Catanzaro earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mustafa Gürkan Varlık was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Catanzaro are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Oct 2027
The name of Mehdi Dorval keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Catanzaro say nothing, which says plenty.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Juve Stabia next, and one man in the Catanzaro dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Ewerton gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ewerton is on it.