Marked for Mirco Ceccacci
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vincenzo Ferrara
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vis Pesaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Nov 2027
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.
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Vis Pesaro's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vis Pesaro has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Luca Paganini 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.
Squad29 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 7.57 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vis Pesaro had the best player on the pitch.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vis Pesaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Oct 2027
Three points for Vis Pesaro, 1‑0 the final word against Ascoli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Sulayman Jallow at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vis Pesaro.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Stan Naert 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 Oct 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Paganini and Vis Pesaro agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Manuel Di Paola 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
3 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Alessandro Ventre is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Vis Pesaro will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
Marcello Piras 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.
Squad30 Aug 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 Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 24 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Di Paola 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 ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 7.78 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vis Pesaro had the best player on the pitch.
Match28 Aug 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pontedera defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market30 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sulayman Jallow signs something — a contract at Vis Pesaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Anger at Vis Pesaro spills outside the ground
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.
Match16 Aug 2027
Vis Pesaro are in real trouble now
Position 18, 25 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.
Market16 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.
Market16 Aug 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 Vis Pesaro can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Louis Page is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Sulayman Jallow 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
Upbeat
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Anger at Vis Pesaro spills outside the ground
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.
Match19 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Vis Pesaro
Position 18 and 25 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer from Lumezzane for Francesco Nicastro 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.
Squad19 Jul 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 Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Vis Pesaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Di Paola 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vis Pesaro has been clear about where Romeo Giovannini stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mirco Ceccacci is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luca Paganini 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Nicolò Lari has left for Torres in a $290.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Manuel Di Paola 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Maucci, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Anger at Vis Pesaro spills outside the ground
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.
Match26 Apr 2027
Vis Pesaro are in real trouble now
Position 18, 25 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“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.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Nicastro signs something — a contract at Vis Pesaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Manuel Pisano knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vis Pesaro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The selectors could not leave Antonio Pirrò out
6.66 across ninety minutes and a place in the division's team of the week. He was the best player on that pitch and everybody there knew it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Apr 2027
Vis Pesaro win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Ternana will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match17 Apr 2027
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Marcello Piras: 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.” Vis Pesaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Apr 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 Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2027
Three points for Vis Pesaro, 1‑0 the final word against Ternana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.40 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vis Pesaro had the best player on the pitch.
Squad19 Apr 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Tonucci, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Pressure builds in the Vis Pesaro boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ruggero Calabrese has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Apr 2027
Nicolò Lari hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vis Pesaro can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 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 Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sulayman Jallow. 1‑0 against Bra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
7.82, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Vis Pesaro had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Michele Rigione loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Michele Rigione's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Luca Paganini. Vis Pesaro will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Vis Pesaro
17 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
9 matches without a goal for Vis Pesaro
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 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 Vis Pesaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Feb 2027
Torres left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Marcello Piras 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
Match13 Feb 2027
16 matches without a win for Vis Pesaro
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Vis Pesaro are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑3 against Ascoli, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match13 Feb 2027
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.
Market15 Feb 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 Feb 2027
Luca Paganini 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Still nobody in the Vis Pesaro dugout
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad15 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Sulayman Jallow 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
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at Vis Pesaro 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vis Pesaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Jan 2027
10 matches without a win for Vis Pesaro
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Vis Pesaro are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Vis Pesaro
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Vis Pesaro is running low.
Match4 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Vis Pesaro
Position 18 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.
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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Luca Paganini 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vis Pesaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
The mood at Vis Pesaro 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.
Match7 Dec 2026
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market7 Dec 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Vis Pesaro's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vis Pesaro has to find a result from somewhere.
Match5 Dec 2026
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.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.60 on the card, and the Vis Pesaro support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.