136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richie Sagrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brayden Johnson 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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The words a physio says slowly. 144 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommaso Cancellotti and Casarano agree another 1 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 Richie Sagrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valentino Vidal after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Andrea Errico and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Riccardo Arboscello is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Raffaele Maiello
154 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marco Decherf 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.
Marked 8.37 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tedi Malaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Valentino Vidal could afford to be generous.
“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.
7 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.
Crotone next, and one man in the Casarano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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.
Brayden Johnson 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vincenzo Millico signs something — a contract at Casarano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Casarano will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Riccardo Arboscello has written the date down.
Andrea Santarcangelo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Picerno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Out, 0‑3 to AS Roma, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces5 Nov 2029
A cup hiding at AS Roma leaves Casarano explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Pietro Ciotti was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
Børre Kloster 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vincenzo Millico provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Valentino Vidal could afford to be generous.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vito Leonetti’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Brayden Johnson 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Rajmund Schrenck'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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tedi Malaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniel Deac 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Pasquale Pane’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Andrea Errico has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Casarano would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tedi Malaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Riccardo Arboscello and Casarano agree another 3 years.
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.
8.27. 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.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutRichie Sagrado asks for a word with the manager
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Casarano scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Pawan Parmigiani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richie Sagrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Casarano dressing room was either.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Lazar Radojičić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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.
6 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Vincenzo Millico is still in the building
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Casarano 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.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Lazar Radojičić knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richie Sagrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Casarano asked and Bologna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Umberto Sanna 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cesena have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Børre Kloster has his answer from Casarano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Casarano have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Casarano asked and Pro Vercelli 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 Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Tedi Malaj 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.
Casarano have made the call to Cittadella. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Niccolò Zanellato has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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.
Casarano asked and Catania said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
9 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 words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richie Sagrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Casarano asked and Avellino 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 words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Lazar Radojičić 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.
“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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Tedi Malaj 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Casarano will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Casarano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richie Sagrado 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 Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Como for Andrea Santarcangelo 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Casarano have done the hard part with Casertana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richie Sagrado 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. Cesena have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Casarano will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
9 new faces, and Casarano 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.
In brief
The dugoutPietro Ciotti asks for a word with the manager
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Flavio Di Dio was one of the reasons people came, and $3.4M does not replace that by itself.
Casarano and Foggia have settled on $210.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tedi Malaj is living that version at Casarano, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pergolettese have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everything agreed with Giana Erminio, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$4.0K on the table at Pergolettese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Casarano will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Flavio Di Dio 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.
Brayden Johnson 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Ismael Cajazzo has gone, the accounts have $860.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The phone has started ringing about Flavio Di Dio again, and this time the name on the line is Lecce. Casarano are listening politely and promising nothing.
Padova paid $860.0K and Casarano took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Ludueña 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.
Union Brescia 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.
A conversation is coming this week. Casarano will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Di Dio 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.
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
7 new faces, and Casarano 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.
Børre Kloster 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrea Errico trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Casarano, another week without a signature from Riccardo Arboscello.
The offer from Cremonese for Flavio Di Dio 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.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lazar Radojičić is living that version at Casarano, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Ismael Cajazzo has come up in conversations Casarano were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Lazar Radojičić 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Di Dio 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Genoa have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ertijon Gega has his answer from Casarano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Ludueña 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ismael Cajazzo is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Andrea Santarcangelo keeps the shirt for now, at Casarano's convenience rather than his own.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Casarano would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Lamine Ballo 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ismael Cajazzo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shunta Uchiyama 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.
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.
Emil Ganeev 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brayden Johnson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
“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 Casarano will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommaso Cancellotti and Casarano agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Casarano has been clear about where Ismael Cajazzo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Flavio Di Dio is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ertijon Gega trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Casarano have had the benefit of it.
Squad30 Apr 2029
6 new faces, and Casarano 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shunta Uchiyama 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.
Nobody at Casarano will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Casarano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Lamine Ballo 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Ludueña 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Casarano will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutMarco Decherf knocks on the manager’s door
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Lamine Ballo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Michał Bierzało. 1‑0 against Carrarese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lorenzo Scalise on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Casarano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Casarano will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Shunta Uchiyama has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joyce Anacoura trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
They sit in position 10 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.29 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vito Leonetti. 2‑1 against Casertana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Emil Ganeev 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lorenzo Scalise on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Casarano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Brayden Johnson 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lorenzo Scalise after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Casertana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Flavio Di Dio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Ludueña 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.
Minute 88, against Monopoli, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vincenzo Millico is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Bilal Erradi decided nobody was going anywhere. Picerno had no time left to answer.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for 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 Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Bilal Erradi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Casarano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Casarano asked and Trento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brayden Johnson 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 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Santarcangelo. 1‑0 against Altamura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Lorenzo Scalise could afford to be generous.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Casarano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Casarano asked and Catanzaro 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Andrea Santarcangelo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Casarano.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Lulić 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Lorenzo Scalise could afford to be generous.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Casarano close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Gerónimo Ludueña 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 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 Casarano know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lorenzo Scalise after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Vincenzo Millico was at the centre of it, Catania were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
The deal with Dolomiti Bellunesi 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.
Casarano asked and Sassuolo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Casarano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Brayden Johnson 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Engen 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Catania were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Vincenzo Millico and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Daniel Deac 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Sassuolo 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.
Børre Kloster 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lorenzo Scalise after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pietro Ciotti signs something — a contract at Casarano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cesena is saying, and nobody at Casarano is enjoying the guessing.
Casarano asked and Pescara 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 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 Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Vito Leonetti
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jonathan Engen has come out of that comparison in the side, and Casarano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Casarano had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Brayden Johnson 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 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.
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.
“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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lorenzo Scalise was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Casarano dressing room was either.
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.
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.
Emil Ganeev 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Andrea Errico
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cosimo Patierno provided it, and the 8.68 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.
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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
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.” Lorenzo Scalise kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pietro Ciotti signs something — a contract at Casarano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Casarano 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 Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gerónimo Ludueña has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Casarano.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Raffaele Maiello'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 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.
4 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.
Daniel Deac 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Flavio Di Dio
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Flavio Di Dio has come out of that comparison in the side, and Casarano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Casertana next, and one man in the Casarano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Casarano.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Ludueña 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Casarano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Casarano, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lorenzo Scalise was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Casarano dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jonathan Engen's mistake
Gerónimo Ludueña 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Niccolò Zanellato, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Karlo Lulić 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Casarano told Gerónimo Ludueña something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Crotone in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denny Pucci is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pawan Parmigiani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Casarano the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
They sit in position 9 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Raffaele Maiello'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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
6 new faces, and Casarano 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Karlo Lulić has his answer from Casarano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Casarano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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 dugout6 Nov 2028
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 Lorenzo Scalise left the room before anybody could ask which.
Emil Ganeev 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.
Nobody at Casarano 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.
In brief
The dugoutKarlo Lulić knocks on the manager’s door
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Lulić 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.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
Something was said to Andrea Santarcangelo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lorenzo Scalise after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vito Leonetti’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
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 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 Foggia.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vincenzo Millico’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Casarano would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denny Pucci is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Decherf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 6.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tommaso Cancellotti and Casarano agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Casarano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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 Lorenzo Scalise left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tommaso Cancellotti and Casarano agree another 2 years.
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.
“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 Casarano know it.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1 for Niccolò Zanellato, marked 7.64, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Shunta Uchiyama has, at Casarano, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Santarcangelo. 1‑0 against Sorrento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
5 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 dugout18 Sep 2028
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.” Lorenzo Scalise kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Casarano have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Casarano will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Casarano has been clear about where Leandro Versienti stands, which is more than many ever get.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sorrento in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Casarano has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nobody at Casarano will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Casarano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Casarano 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.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Inter keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Raffaele Maiello 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.
$66.0K was the most the club would pay and Sorrento were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Flavio Di Dio
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Casarano have done the hard part with Potenza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$230.0K was the most the club would pay and Cittadella were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Vincenzo Millico scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Potenza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Karlo Lulić 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lorenzo Scalise after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Casarano and Cittadella have settled on $230.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The chase for Marco Decherf ended with $95.0K changing hands and Casertana out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Francesco Grandolfo 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mariano Conti 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Angelo Caprioli 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. Angelo Testa 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.
In brief
BoardroomA promise the Casarano board did not keep
The phone has started ringing about Francesco Grandolfo again, and this time the name on the line is Ascoli. Casarano are listening politely and promising nothing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Casarano have done the hard part with Sampdoria, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Catanzaro this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Catanzaro wanted more than $910.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Karlo Lulić 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.
“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 Casarano know 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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Casarano have done the hard part with Sassuolo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Casarano offered $1.1M; Napoli 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cesena keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cosimo Patierno commits to Casarano for another 1 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Karlo Lulić 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.
Emmanuele Matino 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 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 Casarano know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Niccolò Chiorra has gone, the accounts have $650.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The offer went to Catanzaro this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$270.0K on the table at Cittadella. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Mario Mercadante 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.
Modena paid $650.0K and Casarano took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Casarano offered $69.0K; Sorrento 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pescara have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Casarano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadA last season at home is what Diego Augusto is after
The dugoutIsmael Cajazzo asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Modena waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Casarano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Mario Mercadante 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.
Casarano have gone to Sorrento with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Lulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Casarano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Casarano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Lulić 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. Picerno have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cesena is saying, and nobody at Casarano is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Casarano will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Grandolfo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Bologna wanted more than $1.7M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Lulić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Salvatore Monaco 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. 49 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.
Casarano and Cremonese have settled on $140.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Modena keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Lulić 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.
Casarano have made the call to Hellas Verona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vincenzo Millico trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Casarano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Casarano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Casarano will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
$1.4M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to Como, the club has $1.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$27.0K on the table at Cremonese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brayden Johnson and Casarano agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Karlo Lulić 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.
Casarano asked and Hellas Verona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marius Costache has, at Casarano, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Mario Mercadante 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Casarano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Nobody at Casarano will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Casarano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Flavio Di Dio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Casarano would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Brayden Johnson has come out of that comparison in the side, and Casarano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
22 games, 8 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Casarano now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Cosimo Chiricò is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Casarano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ertijon Gega trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Casarano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 11 on 31 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“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 words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Casarano pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Grandolfo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.” Lorenzo Scalise chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Casarano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tommaso Cancellotti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Casarano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stefano Negro has his answer from Casarano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Casertana next, and one man in the Casarano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Casarano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
0‑3 to Giugliano, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Casarano told Filip Marchwiński something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Lorenzo Scalise to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Raffaele Maiello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Marked 7.32 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Casarano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 6.87, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mario Mercadante’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Karlo Lulić.
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.
“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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Flavio Di Dio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Casarano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
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.
Casarano asked and Juve Stabia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Casarano ran out of time with Picerno. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“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.
6 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Karlo Lulić
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Picerno have accepted the money. What Casarano do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Casarano 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Casarano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Casarano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Casarano have done the hard part with Spezia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lanús have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Casarano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
11 combined actions and 6.81. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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 words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Casarano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Casarano, and it is not being withdrawn.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take 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 Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.