From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 May 2033
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 May 2033
Full time on the season at Empoli
Position 15 on 33 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.
Market16 May 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 May 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 May 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 May 2033
Andreas Siikkis arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Andreas Siikkis has, at Empoli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad16 May 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom16 May 2033
Wages eat 158% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match14 May 2033
Empoli rescue it on 88 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Hellas Verona had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 May 2033
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom9 May 2033
Pressure builds in the Empoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market9 May 2033
Only the photograph left for George Saville
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. George Saville will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout9 May 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 May 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 May 2033
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 May 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom9 May 2033
No signings allowed at Empoli
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Match7 May 2033
Late, late show earns Empoli a point
Minute 93, against Südtirol, 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 May 2033
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 May 2033
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market2 May 2033
“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.
Market2 May 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 May 2033
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad2 May 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom2 May 2033
The owner puts $2.4M into Empoli
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Match30 Apr 2033
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 May 2033
11 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Apr 2033
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Apr 2033
The drought breaks for Empoli
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Carrarese were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad25 Apr 2033
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market25 Apr 2033
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Apr 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match23 Apr 2033
A 1‑0 win over Carrarese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings25 Apr 2033
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Apr 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match16 Apr 2033
Nowhere to hide for Empoli
1‑4 against Cesena, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market18 Apr 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Charlotte Football Club waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Apr 2033
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Apr 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad18 Apr 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Apr 2033
168% of the income goes out in wages at Empoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Apr 2033
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Empoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings11 Apr 2033
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Apr 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Apr 2033
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Apr 2033
George Saville has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad11 Apr 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom11 Apr 2033
Still nobody in the Empoli dugout
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad4 Apr 2033
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match2 Apr 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
An empty coaching office at Empoli
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Squad4 Apr 2033
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
“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.
Market4 Apr 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Apr 2033
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Market4 Apr 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Mar 2033
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Empoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Mar 2033
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
Match26 Mar 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Mar 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Mar 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Mar 2033
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Mar 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Mar 2033
Empoli hit back inside 3 minutes
Sampdoria held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Empoli answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
The manager makes an example of Marko Radojević
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Mar 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market21 Mar 2033
“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.
Market21 Mar 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edoardo Saporiti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad21 Mar 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Mar 2033
Empoli cannot find the net
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.
Boardroom21 Mar 2033
154% of the income goes out in wages at Empoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom21 Mar 2033
The borrowing at Empoli reaches $84.0M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $84.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad21 Mar 2033
“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 Empoli know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Match12 Mar 2033
The wait goes on for Empoli
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market14 Mar 2033
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Mar 2033
George Saville has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad14 Mar 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Mar 2033
0‑2 to Frosinone, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Empoli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad7 Mar 2033
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match5 Mar 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market7 Mar 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Mar 2033
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings7 Mar 2033
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Mar 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristóbal Cáceres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Gerard Yepes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Feb 2033
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.12, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market28 Feb 2033
“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.
Market28 Feb 2033
Matías Lucero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match26 Feb 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Feb 2033
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match26 Feb 2033
A bad afternoon for Empoli against Sassuolo
2‑3 to Sassuolo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Belardinelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Feb 2033
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Feb 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market21 Feb 2033
“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.
Match19 Feb 2033
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom21 Feb 2033
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. George Saville has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Match19 Feb 2033
Empoli cannot find the net
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.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2033
Wages eat 146% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Feb 2033
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom14 Feb 2033
Pressure builds in the Empoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market14 Feb 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Feb 2033
George Saville has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market14 Feb 2033
Rotor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Feb 2033
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad14 Feb 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Feb 2033
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Empoli will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match12 Feb 2033
The goals have deserted Empoli
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Empoli can tell you which week it ends in.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match5 Feb 2033
Chastening afternoon for Empoli
A 0‑3 beating by Cremonese was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market7 Feb 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Feb 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
Window shuts: 7 in, 8 out at Empoli
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2033
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Empoli have done the hard part with Audace Cerignola, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market7 Feb 2033
“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.
Market7 Feb 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Cristóbal Cáceres has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2033
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.
Market31 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Urawa Reds waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The terraces31 Jan 2033
Filippo Distefano has gone, the accounts have $3.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market31 Jan 2033
“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.
Market31 Jan 2033
AS Roma paid $3.9M and Empoli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market31 Jan 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Jan 2033
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Avellino have kept their man, and Empoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Jan 2033
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Jan 2033
Axel Bordón hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edoardo Saporiti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Market24 Jan 2033
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Empoli will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad24 Jan 2033
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Jan 2033
Wages swallow 146% of the Empoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match22 Jan 2033
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filippo Distefano. 2‑0 against Reggiana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Jan 2033
Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Jan 2033
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Santiago García had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market17 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 Jan 2033
“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.
The dugout17 Jan 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2033
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cagliari keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom17 Jan 2033
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Filippo Distefano has agreed terms with Napoli for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad17 Jan 2033
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad17 Jan 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Monza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Jan 2033
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Jan 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Gerard Yepes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Jan 2033
Franco Pulian has left for Vis Pesaro in a $470.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom10 Jan 2033
Empoli still without a manager
9 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.
Boardroom10 Jan 2033
Empoli cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings10 Jan 2033
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
An empty coaching office at Empoli
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Market3 Jan 2033
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
“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.
Market3 Jan 2033
“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.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Jan 2033
Only the photograph left for Axel Bordón
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Axel Bordón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Jan 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emmanuel Gyasi and Empoli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jan 2033
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Dec 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Market27 Dec 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings27 Dec 2032
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.81, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market27 Dec 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market27 Dec 2032
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2032
145% of the income goes out in wages at Empoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match25 Dec 2032
The drought breaks for Empoli
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Südtirol were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Dec 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Dec 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match18 Dec 2032
The wait goes on for Empoli
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.
Squad20 Dec 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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 Dec 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Dec 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings20 Dec 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market20 Dec 2032
Add another name to the list: Boston River have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alfonso Álvarez. The answer from Empoli has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Dec 2032
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Joseph Ceesay had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market13 Dec 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market13 Dec 2032
Empoli say no — this time
The offer from Wanderers for Iwo Kaczmarski 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.
Market13 Dec 2032
“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.
Match11 Dec 2032
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Gerard Yepes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match11 Dec 2032
Late, late show earns Empoli a point
Minute 90, against Carrarese, 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.
Boardroom13 Dec 2032
Empoli are $74.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Dec 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Dec 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Dec 2032
Håkon Røsten: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Empoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Dec 2032
The phone has started ringing about Joseph Ceesay again, and this time the name on the line is Nautico. Empoli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market6 Dec 2032
Axel Bordón has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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 Dec 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad6 Dec 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maj Blažič and Empoli agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings6 Dec 2032
Marked 8.04 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
Pressure builds in the Empoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings29 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Market29 Nov 2032
“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.
Market29 Nov 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
Wages eat 144% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match27 Nov 2032
A bad afternoon for Empoli against Avellino
0‑1 to Avellino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market29 Nov 2032
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Empoli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Nov 2032
Only the photograph left for Kilian Toscano
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kilian Toscano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 Nov 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2032
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 Nov 2032
Empoli rescue it on 91 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Padova had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad22 Nov 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
Match20 Nov 2032
A 2‑2 draw with Padova leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings22 Nov 2032
Maj Blažič runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Nov 2032
“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.
Market15 Nov 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match13 Nov 2032
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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 dugout15 Nov 2032
The manager makes an example of Joseph Ceesay
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match13 Nov 2032
Three points for Empoli, 1‑0 the final word against Sampdoria in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Nov 2032
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Nov 2032
Empoli bow out of the cup
Como go through and Empoli go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market8 Nov 2032
“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.
Match6 Nov 2032
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Nov 2032
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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market8 Nov 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Nov 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Haas commits to Empoli for another 2 years.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad8 Nov 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Match30 Oct 2032
The wait goes on for Empoli
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.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market1 Nov 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Nov 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market1 Nov 2032
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
Squad1 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
Wages eat 147% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2032
Only the photograph left for Kilian Toscano
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kilian Toscano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market25 Oct 2032
“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.
Match23 Oct 2032
The wait goes on for Empoli
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.
Squad25 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match23 Oct 2032
A point taken on 95 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Oct 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kilian Toscano, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Oct 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Oct 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
Matías Fernández: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Empoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Oct 2032
4 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match16 Oct 2032
Sassuolo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Oct 2032
Axel Bordón has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match9 Oct 2032
A bad afternoon for Empoli against Cagliari
1‑3 to Cagliari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Oct 2032
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market11 Oct 2032
The name of Gerard Yepes keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Empoli say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Oct 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Oct 2032
12 seasons and 479 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market4 Oct 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Maj Blažič makes the wrong kind of headline
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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Stiven Shpendi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Filippo Parise is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match2 Oct 2032
0‑1 to Catanzaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
Wages eat 134% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market27 Sep 2032
Only the photograph left for Kilian Toscano
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kilian Toscano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market27 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Market27 Sep 2032
Empoli may not be able to give Matías Lucero what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Lucero wants continental football; whether Empoli can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad27 Sep 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
Marked 7.57 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Empoli had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
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.
Market20 Sep 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market20 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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 Sep 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match18 Sep 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maj Blažič. 2‑1 against Lecce, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad20 Sep 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
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 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
The manager makes an example of Håkon Røsten
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 Sep 2032
Axel Bordón has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match11 Sep 2032
4 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Axel Bordón has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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 Sep 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
Empoli counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Empoli now.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Seghetti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match11 Sep 2032
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Sep 2032
Atalanta come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market6 Sep 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Window shuts: 21 in, 21 out at Empoli
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Empoli told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Market6 Sep 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfonso Álvarez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marco Curto and Empoli agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market30 Aug 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slaven Belupo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market30 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
Still nobody in the Empoli dugout
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Match28 Aug 2032
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Maj Blažič had Empoli level again within 4 minutes, and Venezia never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad30 Aug 2032
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
An empty coaching office at Empoli
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
“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.
Market23 Aug 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
Matías Fernández: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Empoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Aug 2032
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Filippo Distefano, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
Graduation day at Empoli
10 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
Belts tighten at Empoli
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Market16 Aug 2032
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Empoli have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market16 Aug 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marco Curto’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad16 Aug 2032
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Empoli would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ospitaletto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market9 Aug 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Market9 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
Wages eat 129% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market9 Aug 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Empoli, another week without a signature from Filippo Distefano.
Squad9 Aug 2032
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Empoli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market2 Aug 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Aug 2032
Al-Ra'ed come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market2 Aug 2032
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
Squad2 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Matías Lucero has moved up it.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Axel Bordón is not saying it is over
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 36 with 131 appearances behind him, and Empoli have to plan for both answers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market26 Jul 2032
“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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2032
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kilian Toscano has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Matías Fernández is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Empoli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market26 Jul 2032
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.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Raffaele Tombesi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
A move Stanislav Cerny would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Stanislav Cerny is living that version at Empoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
Belts tighten at Empoli
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Distefano, and the manager let it.
Market19 Jul 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marco Curto’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cagliari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jul 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Jul 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Jul 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
Still nobody in the Empoli dugout
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
Wages swallow 133% of the Empoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad12 Jul 2032
At 28 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
An empty coaching office at Empoli
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Market5 Jul 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Jul 2032
“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.
Market5 Jul 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Jul 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joseph Ceesay commits to Empoli for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfonso Álvarez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
A loan enquiry to Catania: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market28 Jun 2032
Experience through the door at Empoli
Cristóbal Cáceres arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
Santiago García asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Empoli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 2032
Nacional come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Jun 2032
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Gerard Yepes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom21 Jun 2032
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad21 Jun 2032
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
The manager makes an example of Nouroudine Faye
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Kavian Rahmani'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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Jun 2032
Danubio come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Empoli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Jun 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Jun 2032
The name of Nouroudine Faye has come up in conversations Empoli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maj Blažič, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Empoli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 Jun 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Gyasi and Empoli agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Wages eat 146% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
The manager's exit leaves Emmanuel Gyasi exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Emmanuel Gyasi is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Mehdi Chafii is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mehdi Chafii has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market31 May 2032
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
Squad31 May 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad31 May 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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 dugout31 May 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 May 2032
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Alessio Danieli, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 May 2032
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market31 May 2032
The Marco Curto talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Empoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 May 2032
Kilian Toscano asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 May 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom24 May 2032
Empoli counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Empoli now.
Squad24 May 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
Market24 May 2032
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.
Squad24 May 2032
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout24 May 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alfonso Álvarez, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2032
Kavian Rahmani is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 May 2032
Empoli finish in position 17
36 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market17 May 2032
Diego Perillo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 May 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nouroudine Faye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 May 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match15 May 2032
Hellas Verona left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 May 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings17 May 2032
Ninety minutes of Filippo Distefano at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Empoli.
Squad17 May 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Filippo Distefano
9 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom10 May 2032
Pressure builds in the Empoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings10 May 2032
Gerard Yepes goes up and wins it — 7.86
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 7.86 for the rest of it.
Player ratings10 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad10 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom10 May 2032
Wages eat 147% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match8 May 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gerard Yepes. 2‑0 against Südtirol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 May 2032
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 May 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2032
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.
Boardroom3 May 2032
An order from above at Empoli: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market3 May 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market3 May 2032
“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.
Squad3 May 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Player ratings3 May 2032
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.
The dugout3 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago García, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2032
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2032
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings26 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market26 Apr 2032
“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.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
Empoli counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Empoli now.
Squad26 Apr 2032
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Empoli dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2032
Gennaro Alessi damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Apr 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Apr 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
The game went through Vittorio Magni — 7.47
Marked 7.47 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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match17 Apr 2032
Honours even between Empoli and Cesena
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2032
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 Apr 2032
At last: Empoli win one
11 matches without a win, and then this, against Avellino. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market12 Apr 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Age has not caught Joseph Ceesay yet — 7.90
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad12 Apr 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Jacopo Seghetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
Empoli still without a manager
11 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.
Match10 Apr 2032
Avellino made Empoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
Wages eat 151% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Match3 Apr 2032
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
A stranger takes charge at Empoli
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.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
“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.
Market5 Apr 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfonso Álvarez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolas Haas and Empoli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Mar 2032
The wait goes on for Empoli
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Empoli
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 Mar 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Mar 2032
Gerard Yepes wants to know where this is going
“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 Empoli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
Empoli counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Empoli now.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maj Blažič, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2032
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.58, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market22 Mar 2032
Diego Perillo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Mar 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nouroudine Faye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2032
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Francesco Dell'Aquila is living that version at Empoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match20 Mar 2032
Spezia left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2032
8 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Market15 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
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.
Market15 Mar 2032
Empoli say no — this time
The offer from Real Salt Lake for Matías Fernández 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match13 Mar 2032
Stiven Shpendi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Frosinone, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Loan watch15 Mar 2032
“I watch every Empoli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Giana Erminio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
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.
Match6 Mar 2032
7 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Market8 Mar 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Mar 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Mar 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gerard Yepes and Empoli agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vittorio Magni 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2032
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Pressure builds in the Empoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match28 Feb 2032
6 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Market1 Mar 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. a squad player will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Belts tighten at Empoli
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match28 Feb 2032
A point taken on 90 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maj Blažič, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2032
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Armando Benedetti, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joseph Ceesay
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match21 Feb 2032
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Market23 Feb 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nouroudine Faye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Gerard Yepes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match21 Feb 2032
Late, late show earns Empoli a point
Minute 89, 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.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago García, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
Match
Empoli and Bari take a point apiece
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Market
Axel Bordón is free to find somewhere else
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Feb 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joseph Ceesay
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Feb 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Feb 2032
4 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Feb 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vittorio Magni 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.
Boardroom16 Feb 2032
Wages swallow 142% of the Empoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad16 Feb 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Empoli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Loan watch16 Feb 2032
“I did not go to Giana Erminio to sit and watch. I want to come back to Empoli and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Feb 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout9 Feb 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market9 Feb 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luca Belardinelli commits to Empoli for another 3 years.
Squad9 Feb 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Player ratings9 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match7 Feb 2032
A point taken on 93 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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Empoli 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.
Player ratings2 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market2 Feb 2032
“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.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Empoli 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.
Market2 Feb 2032
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Belardinelli and Empoli agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market2 Feb 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Jan 2032
Nowhere to hide for Empoli
0‑3 against Padova, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market26 Jan 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jan 2032
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A muscle injury sidelines Luca Belardinelli for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Empoli will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market26 Jan 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
a squad player has agreed to leave Empoli for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo Distefano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Jan 2032
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Empoli scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market19 Jan 2032
“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.
Market19 Jan 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom19 Jan 2032
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Román Calderón has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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 Jan 2032
Ivan Abramović gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Abramović has just signed for Empoli, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jan 2032
“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 Empoli know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jan 2032
The match ball belongs to Stiven Shpendi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market12 Jan 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Market12 Jan 2032
Karamoko Kaba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Jan 2032
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match10 Jan 2032
Stiven Shpendi among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Stiven Shpendi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Empoli and Venezia.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Kilian Toscano gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kilian Toscano has just signed for Empoli, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
Empoli have nobody left to take training
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.
Market5 Jan 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Virtus Entella waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
“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.
Market5 Jan 2032
a squad player asks to leave Empoli
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Distefano 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Market29 Dec 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi, 37, rolls back the years — 8.31
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match27 Dec 2031
Three points for Empoli, 2‑0 the final word against Südtirol in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market22 Dec 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Market22 Dec 2031
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Empoli have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match20 Dec 2031
Virtus Entella made Empoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Wages swallow 128% of the Empoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Dec 2031
Empoli bow out of the cup
Pescara go through and Empoli go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market15 Dec 2031
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Santiago García had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The terraces15 Dec 2031
Empoli are taken apart by Pescara — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad15 Dec 2031
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.
Market15 Dec 2031
“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.
Market15 Dec 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo Distefano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market8 Dec 2031
a squad player asks to leave Empoli
“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.
Market8 Dec 2031
Add another name to the list: Sport Huancayo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Santiago García. The answer from Empoli has not changed — yet.
Squad8 Dec 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joseph Ceesay commits to Empoli for another 2 years.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
Belts tighten at Empoli
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match6 Dec 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Nov 2031
Three points for Empoli, 1‑0 the final word against Avellino in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Dec 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Empoli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.89 on the card, and the Empoli support went home talking about one name.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Emmanuel Gyasi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Nov 2031
Every point is an argument now for Empoli
Position 18 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.
Match22 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Nov 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Nov 2031
Empoli cannot find the net
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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo Distefano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Seghetti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match22 Nov 2031
Modena left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
119% of the income goes out in wages at Empoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad24 Nov 2031
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Nov 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
“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 Empoli know it.
Match15 Nov 2031
The goals have deserted Empoli
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Empoli can tell you which week it ends in.
Match15 Nov 2031
A bad afternoon for Empoli against Reggiana
0‑2 to Reggiana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom17 Nov 2031
Doors closed at Empoli
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“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.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Maj Blažič beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Nov 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
Empoli counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Empoli now.
Squad10 Nov 2031
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Jacopo Seghetti has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Empoli will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Oct 2031
Empoli through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Novara, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match29 Oct 2031
Cruel end for Novara as Empoli pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Empoli scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Elia Ventura could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.44
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.44, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad3 Nov 2031
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.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
Pressure builds in the Empoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Nicolò Donati, 19, steals the show — 7.64
Marked 7.64 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market3 Nov 2031
Gerard Yepes wants to know where this is going
“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 Empoli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Nov 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Gyasi and Empoli agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Maj Blažič in trouble away from the ground
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Oct 2031
Nowhere to hide for Empoli
0‑3 against Mantova, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match25 Oct 2031
7 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Market27 Oct 2031
“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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
Wages swallow 103% of the Empoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
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.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Oct 2031
6 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Market20 Oct 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Gerard Yepes 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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Ceesay, and the manager let it.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
Ninety minutes of Filippo Distefano at his very best
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Empoli.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
Joseph Ceesay dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match18 Oct 2031
A 1‑1 draw with Sassuolo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Oct 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Oct 2031
No end in sight to Empoli's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Empoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Boardroom13 Oct 2031
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad13 Oct 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo Distefano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Oct 2031
Empoli cannot find the net
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.
Match11 Oct 2031
Empoli come up short against Bari
Bari left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Oct 2031
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Oct 2031
4 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.61 on the card, and the Empoli support went home talking about one name.
Squad6 Oct 2031
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Filippo Distefano is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Empoli will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
“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.
Match4 Oct 2031
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Catanzaro will be the happier side with the point.
Market6 Oct 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Empoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Sep 2031
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad29 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Empoli
Gerard Yepes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Gyasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
Wages eat 103% of everything Empoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad29 Sep 2031
“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 Empoli know it.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Santiago García
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.
Match27 Sep 2031
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Cremonese came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Sep 2031
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market22 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Match20 Sep 2031
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo Distefano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Filippo Distefano was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
“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 Empoli know it.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Empoli needed to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Market15 Sep 2031
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Sep 2031
Gerard Yepes wants to know where this is going
“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 Empoli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad15 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Sep 2031
At 23 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“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 Empoli know it.
Boardroom15 Sep 2031
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.52, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market8 Sep 2031
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Filippo Distefano reports back to Empoli with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A move Santiago García would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago García is living that version at Empoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Nicolas Haas has been here 11 seasons
438 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market8 Sep 2031
“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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolas Haas and Empoli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Maj Blažič in trouble away from the ground
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.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match6 Sep 2031
Sampdoria made Empoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Sep 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joseph Ceesay
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Market1 Sep 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Empoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Nicolas Haas has been here 11 seasons
437 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 20 in, 11 out at Empoli
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Cremonese wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Maj Blažič makes the wrong kind of headline
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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Sep 2031
Fiorentina are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Empoli will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Aug 2031
Joseph Ceesay damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Market25 Aug 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Empoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
$8.1M was the most the club would pay and Monza were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad25 Aug 2031
41 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market25 Aug 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
Graduation day at Empoli
11 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.
Market25 Aug 2031
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristiano Canali 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Aug 2031
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Empoli and Monza have settled on $8.1M. 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Edoardo Zanaga is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market18 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gregorio Luperini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Market18 Aug 2031
Everyone has stopped pretending: Parma will make the call about Edoardo Zanaga this week. Empoli have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Maj Blažič
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Aug 2031
Joseph Ceesay damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market11 Aug 2031
Only the photograph left for Louis Bury
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Louis Bury will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Empoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Alfonso Álvarez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Empoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Diego Perillo is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Empoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerard Yepes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Aug 2031
Joseph Ceesay damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Empoli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Empoli is running low.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Virtus Entella waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Empoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market4 Aug 2031
Edoardo Zanaga has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Aug 2031
At 23 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.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 101% of everything Empoli earn
-
The dugout
Emmanuel Gyasi loses the manager who believed in him
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joseph Ceesay
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Jul 2031
The medical room confirms 69 days on the sidelines for Stiven Shpendi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market28 Jul 2031
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jul 2031
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Empoli heard it as anything else.
Squad28 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolò Donati is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market28 Jul 2031
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manuel Fontana 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Davide Tarantino is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edoardo Zanaga, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joseph Ceesay
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Parma waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Edoardo Zanaga is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerard Yepes 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.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
Belts tighten at Empoli
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Market21 Jul 2031
The Marco Curto story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marco Curto signs something — a contract at Empoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
Maj Blažič has been promised minutes
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 Maj Blažič has written the date down.
Market21 Jul 2031
Still no signature from Louis Bury
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Empoli could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jul 2031
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Empoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Jul 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market14 Jul 2031
Empoli say no — this time
The offer from Sport Huancayo for Maj Blažič 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.
Market14 Jul 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Empoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jul 2031
Joseph Ceesay damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market7 Jul 2031
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jul 2031
Louis Bury has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Empoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Empoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Empoli asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Louis Bury has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Joseph Ceesay 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Emmanuel Gyasi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joseph Ceesay
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Empoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Jun 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aalborg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Empoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market30 Jun 2031
“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 Empoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Gerard Yepes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edoardo Zanaga, and the manager let it.
Market30 Jun 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stiven Shpendi signs something — a contract at Empoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
Maj Blažič asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market30 Jun 2031
Empoli have let the market know Diego Perillo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jun 2031
Joseph Ceesay damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Market23 Jun 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Empoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Empoli
Emmanuel Gyasi 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 Jun 2031
Words at Empoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Distefano 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
“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; Empoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom23 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at Empoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market23 Jun 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gerard Yepes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
-
The dugout
Maj Blažič knocks on the manager's door
-
Market
Louis Bury runs his contract down
-
Boardroom
The Empoli production line keeps running