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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Lorenzo Paolucci will call it something else in private.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Audace Cerignola, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 15 and 19 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.
Kevin Miranda 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pietro Galli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mariano Rossetti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mauro Paro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giuseppe Pellegrino has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“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 dugout15 Feb 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 Luciano Pasquali left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clock did what Lumezzane would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kevin Miranda 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.
21 appearances at Giugliano and the goals have stopped going in. Audace Cerignola lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
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.
Lumezzane have accepted the money. What Audace Cerignola do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Audace Cerignola have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Audace Cerignola until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Audace Cerignola offered $1.6M; Venezia 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.
Everything agreed with Juve Stabia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Audace Cerignola go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Audace Cerignola, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.6M on the table at Venezia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Antonio Pio Iervolino 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 dugout25 Jan 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 0‑2 Luciano Pasquali left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Cocorocchio 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Paolucci trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Potenza made Audace Cerignola work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Kevin Miranda 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.
Kevin Miranda 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 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.
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.
Hellas Verona have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
11 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Everything agreed with Hellas Verona, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout4 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Luciano Pasquali to a room that had heard them before.
Hellas Verona have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Niccolò Pierozzi is in the works
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Audace Cerignola has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Miranda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 16, 10 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.
Alessandro Bassino 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Audace Cerignola, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Kevin Miranda 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Parlato 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Audace Cerignola told Ludovico D'Orazio something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Audace Cerignola has been clear about where Luca Russo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Marco Meli
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Audace Cerignola has to find a result from somewhere.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Audace Cerignola had all but put away. Crotone will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Audace Cerignola has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Miranda 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.
Alessandro Bassino 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alessandro Silvestro is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout30 Nov 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 0‑1 Luciano Pasquali left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Parlato was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Audace Cerignola lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 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.
Kevin Miranda 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Claudio Parlato and Audace Cerignola agree another 4 years.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Audace Cerignola, and both men came out saying it was fine.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Audace Cerignola lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kevin Miranda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audace Cerignola lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.15 — 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 easiest signature of my career.” Martin Cocorocchio and Audace Cerignola agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The goal that put Cosenza ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Audace Cerignola equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Audace Cerignola told Marco Meli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout2 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Luciano Pasquali to a room that had heard them before.
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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
6 goals in one match, Lorenzo Paolucci on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Audace Cerignola and Catania.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lorenzo Paolucci has his answer from Audace Cerignola; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kevin Miranda 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Paolucci trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
2 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kevin Miranda is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Meli. 1‑0 against Cavese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Miranda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Luciano Pasquali kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cavese in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Miranda 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.
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.
Jacopo Tarantino 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.
“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 dugout5 Oct 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.” Luciano Pasquali chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jacopo Tarantino did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Kevin Miranda 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jacopo Tarantino 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Audace Cerignola had all but put away. Bari will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Audace Cerignola will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Audace Cerignola asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Kevin Miranda 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ludovico D'Orazio, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luciano Pasquali was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Audace Cerignola dressing room was either.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Bari.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Ligi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Audace Cerignola needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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 Audace Cerignola, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Audace Cerignola will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Renate have kept their man, and Audace Cerignola go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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
Kevin Miranda 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francesco Sena and Audace Cerignola agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
12 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nahounou Gneto has just signed for Audace Cerignola, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audace Cerignola can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Audace Cerignola until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nahounou Gneto and Audace Cerignola agree another 3 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Audace Cerignola go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Miranda 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.
Audace Cerignola have made the call to Renate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Audace Cerignola will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Audace Cerignola, and it is not being withdrawn.
Audace Cerignola asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Kevin Miranda 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 words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Audace Cerignola will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Kevin Miranda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audace Cerignola lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Audace Cerignola asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audace Cerignola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The deal with Vis Pesaro is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Audace Cerignola go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kevin Miranda 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fabio Sanna is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Paganelli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vincenzo Caruso has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Martinelli and Audace Cerignola agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni Volpe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Audace Cerignola go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Still no offer on the table, and Giovanni Volpe’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Alessandro Bassino 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.