Titas Krapikas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Gubbio could ask drops and the wages Leonardo Baroncelli can ask rise.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Titas Krapikas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I watch every Gubbio game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Trento runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tommaso Ghirardello. 2‑0 against Torres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gubbio, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gubbio know it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caio Garcia, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
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.” Massimo Ventura chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giacomo Rosaia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Massimo Ventura kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nicola Murru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Massimo Ventura after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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; Gubbio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gubbio is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Gubbio game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Trento runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mamadou Baldé’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gubbio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Elias Prieto 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 Oct 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Rosaia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Baroncelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ravenna? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Titas Krapikas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 93, against Vicenza, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Massimo Ventura after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Ghirardello has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Three points for Gubbio, 2‑0 the final word against Livorno in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Rosaia 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.
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Spezia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jure Ribič has pre-agreed a move to Gubbio, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Gubbio ran out of time with Benevento. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Gubbio are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gubbio has been clear about where Caio Garcia stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $20.9K of what Gubbio paid for Lautaro Urtasún is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gubbio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Gubbio close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gubbio ran out of time with Potenza. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Virtus Entella have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gubbio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$1.7M on the table at Potenza. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Bologna, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nicola Murru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gerardo Colombo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Padova, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cremonese is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Rodrigo Díaz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gubbio, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad20 Aug 2029
5 new faces, and Gubbio are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gubbio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Benevento have accepted the money. What Gubbio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Padova this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The deal with Latina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gubbio asked and Cosenza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Padova this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bari have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Gubbio have gone to Cremonese with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The fee is $66.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lumezzane drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
$67.0K was the most the club would pay and Cittadella were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Di Massimo, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gubbio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Padova; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Erick Gabriel has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Gubbio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Lorient have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Forli for Sasha Guidi 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.
$410.0K on the table at Cremonese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Udinese arrived with $13.5M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Ilias Koutsoupias has gone, the accounts have $13.5M 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.
Gubbio asked and Potenza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gubbio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gubbio people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Marco Spina was one of the reasons people came, and $3.3M does not replace that by itself.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Benevento, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Novara have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$73.0K was the most the club would pay and Sampdoria 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.
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.
In brief
SquadGiacomo Rosaia falls out with a teammate over standards
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arezzo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: Udinese have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ilias Koutsoupias. The answer from Gubbio has not changed — yet.
Gubbio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Renate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$73.0K on the table at Sampdoria. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Gubbio offered $150.0K; Perugia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cosenza is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
$150.0K on the table at Perugia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Alessio Di Massimo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Gubbio will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gubbio, another week without a signature from Caio Garcia.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Massimo Ventura has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Gubbio asked and San Martín SJ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giacomo Rosaia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Louis Bonnieu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simón Comesaña trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nicola Murru 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 May 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gubbio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sasha Guidi has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nicola Murru 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 May 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Rosaia 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Massimo Ventura has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Giovanni Di Noia was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutTitas Krapikas asks for a word with the manager
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Louis Bonnieu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gubbio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Titas Krapikas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gubbio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Titas Krapikas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giacomo Rosaia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gubbio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Gubbio scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Riccardo Paonessa did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tommaso Ghirardello. 3‑2 against Sambenedettese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gubbio know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nahuel Arias and Gubbio agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Massimo Ventura was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Gubbio dressing room was either.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nahuel Arias commits to Gubbio for another 2 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Rosaia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gubbio, and 3 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 for Francesco Zallu, marked 7.57, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Gubbio and Campobasso, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsNicola Dalmonte was on a different afternoon to everybody else
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nicola Murru 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 Mar 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giacomo Rosaia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alessio Di Massimo.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Massimo Ventura left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Massimo Ventura has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Felipe Mastro Pietro 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Torres. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Ghirardello has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nicola Murru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Murru, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Rosaia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Gubbio know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Massimo Ventura after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutNahuel Arias dropped after a run of poor form
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
Gubbio ran out of time with Carrarese. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Gubbio close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Louis Bonnieu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gubbio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$130.0K on the table at Carrarese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Rosaia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Pio Errico, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Massimo Ventura was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gubbio dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nahuel Arias
Rodrigo Díaz damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Ravenna, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Giugliano moved on, Titas Krapikas reports back to Gubbio, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Carrarese 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Marco Spina 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody at Gubbio saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gubbio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
“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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gubbio have gone to Carrarese with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
Gubbio asked and Union Brescia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The offer from Genoa for Ilias Koutsoupias 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.
133 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nahuel Arias 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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Massimo Ventura left the room before anybody could ask which.
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Nicola Murru 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 Dec 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Position 7, 23 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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; Gubbio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Marco Spina
The dugoutNahuel Arias dropped after a run of poor form
125Edition
The Gubbio Post
18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Squad18 Dec 2028
Rodrigo Díaz damages knee ligaments — 147 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 147 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Darián Romero has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Tommaso Ghirardello’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gubbio.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Marco Spina 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Massimo Ventura kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilias Koutsoupias scored, was marked 7.66, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Santiago Orizi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
9 combined actions and 6.78. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gubbio.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
Santiago Orizi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Forli will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Gubbio were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A brace, and Darián Romero takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Darián Romero provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Massimo Ventura could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces6 Nov 2028
Gubbio are taken apart by Udinese — 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.
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.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nicola Murru 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gubbio is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Marco Spina 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Ghirardello has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tommaso Ghirardello. 1‑0 against Latina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Gubbio know it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Massimo Ventura could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gubbio. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Gubbio have no good answer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicola Murru and Gubbio agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Marco Spina 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ilias Koutsoupias. 1‑0 against Pianese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 dugout9 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Nahuel Arias
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Massimo Ventura on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
Player ratingsMarco Spina beats them one at a time
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gubbio know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutNahuel Arias dropped after a run of poor form
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.
A 3‑1 win over Vis Pesaro, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Samuele Belmonte, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Ilias Koutsoupias 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Murru, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Alessio Di Massimo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Vicenza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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.
Gubbio asked and Cittadella said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Massimo Ventura after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gubbio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
Nicola Murru 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 Sep 2028
Marco Spina 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.
Gubbio asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Felipe Mastro Pietro has his answer from Gubbio; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Something was said to Felipe Mastro Pietro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nahuel Arias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Gubbio 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Vicenza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cavese is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Marson, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catanzaro have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Marco Spina 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.
“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; Gubbio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Gubbio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cesena, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gubbio asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Rodrigo Díaz 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gubbio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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 Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gubbio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Gubbio asked and Latina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gubbio have made the call to Paris Saint-Germain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Arezzo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Ravenna this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$74.0K was the most the club would pay and Audace Cerignola 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.
Gubbio asked and Arezzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The offer went to Audace Cerignola this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$24.0K was the most the club would pay and Ravenna were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cagliari have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Monopoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Gubbio have gone to Ravenna with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Marco Spina 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gubbio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Gubbio 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.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
$62.0K was the most the club would pay and Altamura were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Filippo Cecchini ended with $340.0K changing hands and Atalanta out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$62.0K on the table at Altamura. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Marco Spina 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.
Gubbio asked and Hellas Verona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have shaken hands with Atalanta; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Alcione Milano is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Latina have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Spina 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Sasha Guidi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Gubbio have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Ravenna have accepted the money. What Gubbio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Francesco Pio Errico has, at Gubbio, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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 easiest signature of my career.” Francesco Pio Errico and Gubbio agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Marco Spina 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 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.
Gubbio have made the call to Alcione Milano. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutIchem Ferrah without the man who signed him
Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giacomo Rosaia has his answer from Gubbio; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Gubbio know which stage they are at.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giacomo Rosaia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Gubbio has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ignazio Bianchi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Gubbio will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Felipe Mastro Pietro is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan Pablo Posse is on it.
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Samuele Belmonte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Felipe Mastro Pietro was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nobody at Gubbio 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.
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 Gubbio would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutThiago Sanchez asks for a word with the manager
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nicola Murru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Gubbio 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Position 8 on 39 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.
Nicola Murru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gubbio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrea La Mantia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ignazio Bianchi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gubbio dressing room was either.
Nobody at Gubbio is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sambenedettese? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Vis Pesaro in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Successful dribbles: 8. 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have 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 Gubbio know it.
Caio Garcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ignazio Bianchi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Lorenzo Podda
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lorenzo Podda has come out of that comparison in the side, and Gubbio have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Ichem Ferrah exposed
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicolò Fazzi is on it.
Pineto next, and one man in the Gubbio dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gubbio. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 6, 35 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A 1‑0 win over Campobasso, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Louis Bonnieu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Nahuel Arias
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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gubbio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ichem Ferrah has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match11 Mar 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Gubbio. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Samuele Belmonte and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gubbio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nicola Murru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Rodrigo Díaz 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Andrea La Mantia.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Podda, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Nahuel Arias
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignazio Bianchi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Giacomo Beretta reports back to Gubbio with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ilias Koutsoupias. 1‑0 against Perugia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Gubbio will try again when the window opens; Picerno may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gubbio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gubbio can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
7.58, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Gubbio ran out of time with Spezia. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 15 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gubbio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Picerno; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Sanchez, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Nahuel Arias
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ignazio Bianchi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gubbio dressing room was either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Alcione Milano for Giacomo Beretta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gubbio can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thiago Sanchez is living that version at Gubbio, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
$9.0K settles it between the clubs for Matteo Grandi
Venezia have accepted the money. What Gubbio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Cremonese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gubbio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gubbio asked and Hellas Verona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lorenzo Podda has his answer from Gubbio; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Marco Spina
A 1‑0 win over Vis Pesaro, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Rodrigo Díaz 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.
Caio Garcia 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.
Half the programme played, position 14, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignazio Bianchi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Marson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.