Marked for Benjamin Santelli
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gubbio has been clear about where Alessio Di Massimo stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Lucas Ferreira is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A wage question at Gubbio
Lorenzo Podda has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Giacomo Beretta has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Nov 2026
47 days out for Andrea Signorini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Gubbio make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gubbio have 6 straight wins of it.
Match9 Nov 2026
Gubbio up to position 3
21 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Lucas Ferreira, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Ahmetaj. 3‑1 against Forli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leonardo Marson commits to Gubbio for another 4 years.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 8.10 — 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Gabriele Pavone, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Sep 2026
The small margins put Gubbio out
Out, 1‑3 to Vis Pesaro, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Lucas Ferreira, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Ferreira 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.
Match23 Sep 2026
Gubbio hit back inside 3 minutes
Vis Pesaro held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Gubbio answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gubbio are still strangers to each other
13 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Gabriele Pavone could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Andrea Signorini out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Gabriele Pavone to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Gubbio squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The suspension has been sat out and he is available again. Whoever has been playing in his place has had a fortnight to make an argument, and the manager now has to decide whether it was a good one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
109 days out for Andrea Signorini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Sep 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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Sep 2026
Spezia left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gabriele Pavone after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Alberto Tentardini is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 4.77. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Lorenzo Podda asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
138 days out for Andrea Signorini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Gubbio asked and Lazio 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 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Gubbio will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Andrea Signorini out for 145 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Gubbio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Paris Saint-Germain, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alessandro Ahmetaj and Gubbio agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Gubbio
Benjamin Santelli 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ruggero Russo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.