“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 Reggiana know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Patterson 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Reggiana, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout1 Mar 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 1‑2 Leandro Riva left the room before anybody could ask which.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Thomas Henry’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Reggiana.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
“I watch every Reggiana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Blackpool runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leandro Riva on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lorenzo Crisetig has his answer from Reggiana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Riyad Idrissi 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Reggiana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Reggiana know which stage they are at.
The offer from Gornik Zabrze for Alessandro Nunziante 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 Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Brian Machuca 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Leandro Riva to a room that had heard them before.
Reggiana asked and Union Brescia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cedric Gondo has his answer from Reggiana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Frosinone had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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 1‑1 draw with Bari leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Leandro Riva chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Thomas Henry’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Reggiana.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leandro Riva on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Reggiana told Brian Machuca something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Reggiana, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oier Olazabal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Crisetig, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Reggiana man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Thomas Henry was the best thing in any of them.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Leandro Riva kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oier Olazabal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Francesco Borriello is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A brace, and Cedric Gondo takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cedric Gondo provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leandro Riva on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Palermo next, and one man in the Reggiana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
9.74. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lorenzo Crisetig 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
15 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Reggiana offered $1.5M; Fiorentina 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 Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Thomas Henry is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Reggiana than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Juve Stabia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Reggiana would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Reggiana have done the hard part with AZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Alessandro Nunziante from Udinese for $2.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Lorenzo Crisetig 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.