From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Altamura
Ibrahima Mbaye 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Ibrahima Mbaye
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Altamura
Position 12, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 107% of the Altamura income
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Claudio Fabbri after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giuseppe Simone’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
Altamura say no — this time
The offer from Brasil de Pelotas for Robson Luiz 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Rosafio. 2‑1 against Salernitana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Dipinto, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Claudio Fabbri on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Giuseppe Simone
Nobody at Altamura is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cosenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Chances created: 6. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Altamura was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A club back home comes in for Robson Luiz
The enquiry everybody at Altamura was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Crimi
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Marco Crimi
Nobody at Altamura is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Altamura squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Market14 Dec 2026
A move back to familiar ground is being talked about. Stories like this are usually written by somebody who wants them to be true.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 7. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 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
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Altamura
Robson Luiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Curcio, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and Michele Grande sits out. Altamura lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessio Curcio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Altamura. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Nov 2026
Miloš Bočić 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 Altamura can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Robson Luiz 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 Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Miloš Bočić
“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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 104% of the Altamura income
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.
The dugout30 Nov 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 Claudio Fabbri to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Altamura told Matteo Zazza something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Rosafio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Vincenzo Millico’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Altamura.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tobia Mogentale 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robson Luiz, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Claudio Fabbri could afford to be generous.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I want to play”: Robson Luiz speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Nicholas Fantoni 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Marco Crimi 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 Altamura, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 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 Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Enrico Silletti’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Altamura. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vittorio Agostinelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ibrahima Mbaye 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Potenza left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Claudio Fabbri to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Altamura, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Roberto Pirrello'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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 5.22. 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 dugout9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Olaf Gorter: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Altamura will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 104% of everything Altamura 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Giuseppe Simone to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Casarano, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Claudio Fabbri was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Altamura dressing room was either.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Nazzaro
“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.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Rosafio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Chances created: 6. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Altamura scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Foggia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Gabriele Ferrari, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Altamura
9 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Claudio Fabbri could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Nicholas Fantoni'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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Giuseppe Simone
Nobody at Altamura is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Casertana, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad19 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Altamura can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Altamura
Robson Luiz 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabrizio Alastra, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Altamura dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 0‑3 Claudio Fabbri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market19 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alberto Spina has his answer from Altamura; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessio Curcio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Altamura needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Altamura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Robson Luiz is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Altamura
Robson Luiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Miloš Bočić
“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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Casertana next, and one man in the Altamura dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Matteo Zazza 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 Altamura, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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 Altamura know it.
Squad5 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 Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tobia Mogentale 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Giugliano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
132% of the income goes out in wages at Altamura
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
Marco Crimi gets it from the manager
“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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.70 on the card, and the Altamura support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2026
Altamura bow out of the cup
Potenza go through and Altamura go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Altamura
Ibrahima Mbaye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑3 to Crotone, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahima Mbaye, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Altamura are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Claudio Fabbri after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Altamura deserved better, and so did he.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 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 Altamura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Altamura asked and Rapid Bucharest 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giuseppe Simone. 1‑0 against Monopoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Antonino Viola, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 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.
The dugout21 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, Claudio Fabbri could afford to be generous.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
So close: Alberto Spina’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Campobasso moved on, Alberto Spina reports back to Altamura, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tobia Mogentale commits to Altamura for another 4 years.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Altamura asked and Rapid Bucharest 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tobia Mogentale, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ibrahima Mbaye 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
A mark of 7.22, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Claudio Fabbri chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
4.57 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
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 Altamura can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 13 in, 0 out at Altamura
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Altamura will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Matteo Falasca has moved up it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Picerno next, and one man in the Altamura dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Tobia Mogentale 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I want to play”: Olaf Gorter speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market7 Sep 2026
Altamura spent the window trying to move Lorenzo Peschetola on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market31 Aug 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Altamura have done the hard part with Molde, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No thanks: Ewen Jaouen rejects the move
Altamura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stade de Reims, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Robson Luiz 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 dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Altamura
9 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Transfer targets
A loan move for George Puşcaş is in the works
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Player ratings
Vincenzo Millico beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicola Dipinto and Altamura agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IFK Goteborg have kept their man, and Altamura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Altamura
Robson Luiz 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
47 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Ewen Jaouen is in the works
Altamura have made the call to Stade de Reims. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Altamura say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Altamura did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Bucharest have kept their man, and Altamura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Altamura
Robson Luiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Altamura are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Altamura have made the call to Inter. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Antonio Arena is in the works
Altamura have made the call to AS Roma. 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
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Altamura say no — this time
The offer from Borneo for Robson Luiz 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Altamura
Ibrahima Mbaye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Miloš Bočić commits to Altamura for another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Arturo Coppola 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Silvio Monteleone is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrahima Mbaye commits to Altamura for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Altamura
Roberto Pirrello 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ibrahima Mbaye 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Marco Rosafio's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
In brief
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Squad
7 new faces, and Altamura are still learning each other
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The dugout
Miloš Bočić knocks on the manager's door