Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Avellino spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
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.
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 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.
A mark of 7.43, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Squad20 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 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessio Bartoli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jari Vandeputte signs something — a contract at Cremonese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Squad13 Nov 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.96, and 2 involvements.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Nov 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cremonese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Up for the corner, and Martín Payero delivers — 7.86
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Martín Payero scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Joan Gaona 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.
Something was said to Marco Nasti and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Cremonese dressing room was either.
Tommaso Barbieri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 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 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.
“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 touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A brace, and Martín Payero takes the afternoon — 8.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martín Payero provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Luca Zanimacchia wants continental football; whether Cremonese can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Cremonese and Südtirol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad16 Oct 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.
“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 words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
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.
22 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.
“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.
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.
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lapo Nava, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Jari Vandeputte was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
30 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.
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pietro Biolchi did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
6 goals in one match, David Stückler on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cremonese and Bra.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ezequiel Delgado Cañete has just signed for Cremonese, and for once the answer mattered.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Edgaras Dubickas at his very best
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bautista Reinhardt has just signed for Cremonese, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad18 Sep 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.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout18 Sep 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.” Interim Coach, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
1 for Martín Payero, marked 7.93, 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matías Duarte is living that version at Cremonese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad11 Sep 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Eddy Cabianca has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Joan Gaona 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gabriele Guarino has his answer from Cremonese; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 93% of everything Cremonese earn
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Malik Djibril has, at Cremonese, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Up for the corner, and Martín Payero delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Martín Payero scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 23 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Tommaso Barbieri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 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.
Cremonese and Picerno have settled on $1.0M. 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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pietro Biolchi is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Cremonese offered $46.0K; Sorrento said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad28 Aug 2028
David Stückler has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“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 words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“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.
The shirt still fits. Filippo Bertolotti 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.
The offer from Bradford City for Mohamed Amine Chakir 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Davide Pavesi is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
23 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.
Cremonese and Alcione Milano have settled on $1.4M. 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Crotone for David Okereke 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.
“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 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cremonese can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
37 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sporting Cristal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lusitânia Lourosa had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Benjamín Galetto has just signed for Cremonese, and for once the answer mattered.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Pisa paid $810.0K 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.
“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 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.
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 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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Davide Pavesi is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Pezzella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Pezzella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Okereke had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alessandro Vogliacco commits to Cremonese for another 4 years.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
In brief
BoardroomStill no name above the door at Cremonese
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alexis Devesa
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.
The offer from Novara for David Okereke 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Audace Cerignola waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Grimsby Town had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
The deal that would have taken Frank Tsadjout to Ravenna 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.
Tommaso Barbieri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michele Collocolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tommaso Barbieri 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 Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luca Donadoni is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutTadeo Suárez asks for a word with the manager
“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.
“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.
“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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Luca Zanimacchia wants continental football; whether Cremonese can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Trento waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Virtus Entella for Federico Baschirotto 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.
“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 name of David Okereke has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Pezzella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Al Nasr. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gonzalo Dorado has, at Cremonese, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer from Debrecen 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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Andrea Vendraminetto has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Cremonese have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michele Collocolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Federico Baschirotto 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 Giuseppe Pezzella 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 Jari Vandeputte 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 Lorenzo Moretti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cremonese. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Cremonese
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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cremonese. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
BoardroomThe Cremonese production line keeps running
94Edition
The Cremonese Gazette
15 May 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces15 May 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.
“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 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.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Up for the corner, and Youssef Maleh delivers — 7.88
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Youssef Maleh scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Al Nasr. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
“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 ratings8 May 2028
Giacomo Gabbiani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cremonese had all but put away. Mantova will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Federico Baschirotto 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Virtus Entella had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Cremonese and a proper look at me.” He remains Adana Demirspor’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
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.
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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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 Simone Franchini stands, which is more than many ever get.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I watch every Cremonese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mantova runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Flavio Bertoni to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tadeo Suárez
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.
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.
Tommaso Barbieri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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 Lorenzo Moretti stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Flavio Bertoni to a room that had heard them before.
10 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Al Nasr. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Avellino had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Cremonese did not stop to explain themselves.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Federico Baschirotto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Giacomo Gabbiani has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.70. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cremonese.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Pezzella 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.
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.
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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Up for the corner, and Youssef Maleh delivers — 7.82
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Youssef Maleh scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Cremonese training over how hard people work
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.
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.
7.72, 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.
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 Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.06. 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.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
In brief
Player ratingsYoussef Maleh beats them one at a time
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.
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 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 goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Andrea Fulignati now has 25 of them across 331 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
“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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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 first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Palermo; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Giacomo Gabbiani did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Franco Zangari 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. Nicolò Casadei 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martino Palmieri 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Pezzella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
Minute 91, against Bari, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.90, and involved in 3 of his side's goals.
Tommaso Barbieri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Maleh and Cremonese agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
Day 13 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.
“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 am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Flavio Bertoni recited it perfectly.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michele Collocolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Cremonese close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Federico Baschirotto 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 phone has started ringing about Giacomo Gabbiani again, and this time the name on the line is Arezzo. Cremonese are listening politely and promising nothing.
The chase for Gabriele Bernardotto ended with $300.0K changing hands and Monopoli out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monopoli have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
“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.
Monopoli have accepted the money. What Cremonese do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Salernitana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Marco Silvestri has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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.
Federico Baschirotto 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: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Pezzella 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reggiana have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Something was said to Luca Zanimacchia and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
“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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
Minute 93, against Frosinone, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Position 8, 28 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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 25 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Federico Baschirotto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Pezzella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.73 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pietro Ceccarelli after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 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.
Tommaso Barbieri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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.” Pietro Ceccarelli, 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Manuel De Luca provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 offer from Deportivo Pasto for Edgaras Dubickas 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.
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 Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
Federico Baschirotto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Fulignati, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Pezzella 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.
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.
“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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Morten Thorsby scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Tommaso Barbieri 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
12 appearances at Al Nasr and the goals have stopped going in. Cremonese lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michele Collocolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Pezzella 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Pietro Biolchi, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tommaso Barbieri 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“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 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.
“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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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 watch every Cremonese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mantova runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
91 minutes played. Luca Zanimacchia found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Hellas Verona went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Luca Zanimacchia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cremonese.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Pezzella 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
8.20. 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
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.
1 for Morten Thorsby, marked 7.97, 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.
“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.
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 Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
“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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Manuel De Luca provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Up for the corner, and Martín Payero delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Martín Payero scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
6 goals in one match, Manuel De Luca on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cremonese and Bari.
Bari made Cremonese work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
“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.
Tommaso Barbieri 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.
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.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Manuel Nardozi has, at Cremonese, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cremonese can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Federico Baschirotto 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 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
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.
“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.” Stevenage had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sebastiano Luperto was one of the reasons people came, and $8.8M does not replace that by itself.
Catania have accepted the money. What Cremonese do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 24 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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 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.
The offer from Cambuur for Edgaras Dubickas 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.
Cremonese have gone to Cesena 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.
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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 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.
“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 Sebastiano Luperto has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
SquadMartín Payero has improved at 28, which nobody expected
BoardroomA promise the Cremonese board did not keep
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marco Silvestri 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 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
17 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 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.
David Okereke 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.
24 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.
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.
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.
“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 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Lapo Nava had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The name of David Okereke has come up in conversations Cremonese were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Picerno have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
31 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.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Salvatore Elia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Livorno moved on, Francesco Folino reports back to Cremonese, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Manuel De Luca and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
38 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.
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 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 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.
“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.
David Okereke 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.
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.
45 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Genoa moved on, Alessandro Vogliacco reports back to Cremonese, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“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.
Federico Baschirotto 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Joan Gaona
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
52 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Pietro Ceccarelli has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
“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.
“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, terms agreed, medical booked. Salvatore Elia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cremonese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 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.
59 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.
Cremonese and Slovan Liberec have settled on $7.9M. 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Michele Collocolo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cosenza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Cremonese have gone to Sorrento with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Position 19 and 15 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 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.
Federico Baschirotto 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
74 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Virtus Entella waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cremonese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The chase for Edgaras Dubickas ended with $670.0K changing hands and Ternana out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
David Okereke was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
82 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.
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.
“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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lautaro López has just signed for Cremonese, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catanzaro have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
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.
11 clean sheets from 38 appearances at Empoli. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
89 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Okereke 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 Alejandro Monsalve trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Marco Festa has written the date down.
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.
96 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.
David Okereke and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto 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 Jari Vandeputte signs something — a contract at Cremonese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
“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.
Faris 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.
Paolo Bighetti is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
15 appearances at Alcione Milano and the goals have stopped going in. Cremonese lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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.
Position 19 on 15 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.
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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
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.
11 clean sheets from 37 appearances at Empoli. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Pietro Ceccarelli left the room before anybody could ask which.
18 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Hellas Verona were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Pietro Ceccarelli has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Morten Thorsby, marked 7.77, 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.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cremonese can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
David Okereke and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Federico Baschirotto 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
9 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
15 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.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cremonese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
14 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 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.
Federico Baschirotto 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pietro Ceccarelli after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
9 clean sheets from 31 appearances at Empoli. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cremonese can tell you which week it ends in.
David Okereke and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
5 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.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Cremonese know now that the thought has arrived.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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.
4 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marco Silvestri commits to Cremonese for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
Position 20 and 10 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Federico Baschirotto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jari Vandeputte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Federico Baschirotto wants continental football; whether Cremonese can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Faris 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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 Morten Thorsby stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Lorenzo Piras to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tadeo Suárez
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Joan Gaona
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 Giuseppe Pezzella 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 Federico Baschirotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Davide Garatti commits to Cremonese for another 4 years.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Okereke'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.
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.
Position 20 and 9 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.
Ternana have accepted the money. What Cremonese do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 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.
Faris 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.
“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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Federico Baschirotto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventus have kept their man, and Cremonese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Payero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
1‑6 to Inter, 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.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cremonese and Inter in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Federico Baschirotto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jari Vandeputte 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cremonese can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cremonese told Filippo Terracciano something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
15 appearances at Alcione Milano and the goals have stopped going in. Cremonese lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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.
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.
Federico Baschirotto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I 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.
0‑2 to Napoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Cremonese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Pezzella 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.