The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro 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.
10 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.
The shirt still fits. Luca Ravanelli is back at Cremonese, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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. Juventus have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Padova; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dolomiti Bellunesi have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cremonese will try again when the window opens; Fiorentina may not be selling by then.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Liteta 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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Donyell Malen scored in the 86th minute, Pescara had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Cremonese took the lot.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Cremonese is running low.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $51.8K of what Cremonese paid for Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Cremonese and Fiorentina have settled on $170.0K. 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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patricio Núñez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Lecce 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.
$330.0K on the table at Dolomiti Bellunesi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 2, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cremonese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Lecce 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Cremonese have gone to Lecce 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.
The offer went to Dolomiti Bellunesi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Catanzaro will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Cremonese were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Cremonese had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Qarabag for Giacomo Gabbiani 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.
The name of Joseph Liteta has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Ebenezer Akinsanmiro, marked 7.88, 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.
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuri Rocchetti 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 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cremonese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.64, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Sebastiano Luperto 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 dugout10 Dec 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 0‑0, and nobody in the Cremonese dressing room was either.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Baschirotto signs something — a contract at Cremonese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Parma defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Marash Kumbulla 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 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.
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cremonese 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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese 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 Francesco Cassata 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 Cremonese 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 Yuri Rocchetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cremonese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cremonese know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Palermo next, and one man in the Cremonese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Cremonese 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.
“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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cremonese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
A brace, and Marco Nasti takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marco Nasti provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I 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 Cremonese know it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Cassata, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuri Rocchetti 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.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cremonese had all but put away. Bari will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Elia Plicco 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.
Something was said to Marash Kumbulla and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
Nobody at Cremonese 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cremonese know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Baschirotto signs something — a contract at Cremonese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cesena in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Cremonese has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cremonese heard it as anything else.
Marked 7.96. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuri Rocchetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Cremonese are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Cremonese have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Padova moved on, David Stückler reports back to Cremonese, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuri Rocchetti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cremonese has been clear about where Yuri Rocchetti stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Juve Stabia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Yuri Rocchetti reports back to Cremonese with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Cremonese ran out of time with Trento. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $1.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Padova drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer went to Trento 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Cremonese close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 14 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cremonese have done the hard part with Napoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Marash Kumbulla 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sorrento had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Padova 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.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Cremonese
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Cremonese asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Palermo for David Stückler 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. Cremonese have done the hard part with Juventus, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Alisson Santos 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 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cremonese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ravenna had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero 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. Inter have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Elia Plicco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
12 new faces, and Cremonese 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 mood at Cremonese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cremonese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Add another name to the list: Union Brescia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sebastiano Luperto. The answer from Cremonese has not changed — yet.
The deal with Parma 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero 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. AS Roma have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Potenza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Joseph Liteta again, and this time the name on the line is FCI Levadia. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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. Juventus have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yuri Rocchetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Martín Payero falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yuri Rocchetti had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Lumezzane for Jari Vandeputte 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.
The fee is $870.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Alcione Milano drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Cremonese asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have shaken hands with Alcione Milano; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The phone has started ringing about Jari Vandeputte again, and this time the name on the line is Lumezzane. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cremonese heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Fulignati and Cremonese agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at Cremonese, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Cremonese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sampdoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cremonese hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Fulignati and Cremonese agree another 2 years.
Alisson Santos 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The name of David Stückler has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Payero 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. AC Milan have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Elia Plicco 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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lumezzane had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cavese have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Add another name to the list: Carrarese have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jari Vandeputte. The answer from Cremonese has not changed — yet.
The offer went to Alcione Milano 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.
$290.0K was the most the club would pay and Casarano 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Cremonese asked and Casarano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cremonese hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
$670.0K on the table at Latina. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Christ Achi Ange has agreed terms with Lecco for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
$290.0K on the table at Vis Pesaro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Marco Nasti 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Virtus Entella will make the call about Frank Tsadjout this week. Cremonese have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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.
35 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Salvatore Dore 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Martín Payero 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Frank Tsadjout will call it something else in private.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 May 2029
Martín Payero 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.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Cremonese 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Cremonese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrej Kostić 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Bologna spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
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.
1‑5 to AC Milan, 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Cremonese is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Cremonese and AC Milan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Payero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Martín Payero 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.
Yuri Rocchetti 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Cremonese is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Frank Tsadjout.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Nobody left the Cremonese dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cremonese told Andrej Kostić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 combined actions and 6.85. 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.
Salvatore Dore 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cremonese 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 Cremonese 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 Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Cremonese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cremonese told Jari Vandeputte something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Modena will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Zanimacchia 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Idrissa Guèye 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 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.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
7 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Mar 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 0‑0, and nobody in the Cremonese dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Frank Tsadjout
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Benevento will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Pier Luigi Simonetti has pre-agreed a move to Cremonese, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Jari Vandeputte’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cremonese.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Martín Payero 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Cremonese interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luca Zanimacchia commits to Cremonese for another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Zanimacchia 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.
Sassuolo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luca Barani has pre-agreed a move to Cremonese, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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; Cremonese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Zanimacchia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Cremonese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Cremonese asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mattia Della Rocca 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.
“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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Felix Afena-Gyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Idrissa Guèye 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Como held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Cremonese answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with 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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Zanimacchia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Cremonese asked and Genoa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cremonese, and 5 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and the manager clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Agazzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Cremonese is running low.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vicenza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The chase for Guglielmo Mignani ended with $3.4M changing hands and Lecce out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Idrissa Guèye 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The mood at Cremonese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Add another name to the list: Arezzo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jari Vandeputte. The answer from Cremonese has not changed — yet.
The deal that would have taken Federico Agazzi to Ascoli has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cremonese with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Jari Vandeputte 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 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.
12 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ascoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Luca Zanimacchia 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.
Ascoli paid $290.0K and Cremonese took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Cremonese asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cremonese hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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.
Felix Afena-Gyan 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
9 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.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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; Cremonese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Federico Baschirotto has his answer from Cremonese; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Payero 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cremonese hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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 dugout11 Dec 2028
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
BoardroomNobody left the Cremonese dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutthe manager answers for it
122Edition
The Cremonese Gazette
27 Nov 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces27 Nov 2028
The mood at Cremonese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Martín Payero 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felix Afena-Gyan, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Cremonese lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Martín Payero'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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cremonese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cremonese, another week without a signature from Felix Afena-Gyan.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cremonese know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Patricio Núñez is on it.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” János Ferenczi and Cremonese agree another 1 years.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Cremonese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro is on it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Salvatore Dore obliged against Cittadella. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Cremonese.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aleksandar Bliznakov has, at Cremonese, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idrissa Guèye 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.
19 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
7.59, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Cremonese had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout6 Nov 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.” the manager chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
9 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
A 1‑1 draw with Sassuolo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
the manager on the point
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” the manager after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Hellas Verona next, and one man in the Cremonese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
0‑3 to Atalanta, 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.
8 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.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cremonese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Joseph Liteta 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.
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idrissa Guèye 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.
Joseph Liteta 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Cremonese can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastiano Luperto signs something — a contract at Cremonese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Salvatore Dore has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 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.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
the manager answers for it
“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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cremonese, another week without a signature from Yuri Rocchetti.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cremonese heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cremonese, and 3 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idrissa Guèye is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cremonese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cremonese has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cremonese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clock did what Union Brescia would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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.
Cremonese asked and Lecce 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Riccardo Villa 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabriele Altieri 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ciro Costa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Cremonese and Union Brescia have settled on $1.3M. 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.
Cremonese offered $7.2M; 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.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 21 signed and 53 gone
That is the business done at Cremonese 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cremonese heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Idrissa Guèye 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.
0‑4 to Napoli, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Wil for Sebastiano Luperto 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cremonese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Crotone for Jari Vandeputte was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Cremonese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Ospitaletto moved on, Federico Agazzi reports back to Cremonese, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idrissa Guèye 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.
Patricio Núñez 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Cremonese are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Alessio Martini has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The phone has started ringing about Jari Vandeputte again, and this time the name on the line is Casertana. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cremonese had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palermo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Cremonese asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $225.0K — a club that wants Gioele Giammattei enough to be asked twice.
Cremonese have gone to Palermo 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.
Cremonese offered $190.0K; Campobasso said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cremonese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cremonese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guidonia Montecelio have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Idrissa Guèye 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Cremonese are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 phone has started ringing about Jari Vandeputte again, and this time the name on the line is Crotone. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Campobasso have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$76.0K was the most the club would pay and Fiorentina 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Cassata 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.
Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro 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 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cremonese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at Cremonese is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Cassata 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cremonese asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Cremonese will be careful with the return date, 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 Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and AS Roma 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.
The phone has started ringing about Federico Agazzi again, and this time the name on the line is Pineto. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cremonese asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Reggiana paid $6.6M and Cremonese took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Manuel De Luca has gone, the accounts have $6.6M 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 name of Jari Vandeputte has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The chase for Patricio Núñez ended with $2.0M changing hands and Ascoli out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Cremonese are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cremonese 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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
$7.9M was the most the club would pay and Inter 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.
Cremonese and Bari have settled on $1.2M. 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 offer went to Ascoli 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.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
Parma paid $920.0K and Cremonese took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Youssef Maleh falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cremonese have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The name of Alessandro Vogliacco has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Giuseppe Pezzella 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 window away with the national side, and a shirt at Cremonese that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Felix Afena-Gyan has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Marco Nasti again, and this time the name on the line is Juve Stabia. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tiziano Ditanto has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cremonese asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Maleh 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.
Position 17 on 32 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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Bernardi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
1‑3 to Torino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Jari Vandeputte 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.
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
Youssef Maleh 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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Eddy Cabianca 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alessio Martini on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Manuel De Luca signs something — a contract at Cremonese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andres Lioi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Torino next, and one man in the Cremonese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cremonese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssef Maleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eddy Cabianca 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.” Alessio Martini after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cremonese, another week without a signature from Marco Silvestri.
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.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jari Vandeputte provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cremonese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Fabrizio Romano leaves with $27.6K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Maleh 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.
Position 19 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Cesena were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marco Silvestri is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Cremonese had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout1 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Alessio Martini, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 Cremonese, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese 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.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Nobody left the Cremonese dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Youssef Maleh 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cremonese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cremonese can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Jari Vandeputte 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Cremonese pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fabrizio Romano after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.” Fabrizio Romano after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Sakhalou Niakaté 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.
Position 19 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 Cremonese, 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 Cremonese pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssef Maleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cremonese told Devyne Rensch something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cremonese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastiano Luperto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eddy Cabianca 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Federico Baschirotto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cremonese needing him to play as if none of it matters.