From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
Titas Krapikas damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Marco Spina beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommaso Ghirardello and Gubbio agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Gubbio will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Titas Krapikas
42 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
“I watch every Gubbio game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alashkert runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Bruno Zorzetto 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
Half-satisfied: Alberto Neri on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Lorenzo Podda
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 dugout18 Oct 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Match16 Oct 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ternana defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pontedera in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia 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 Oct 2027
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
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.” Alberto Neri chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Giammarco Barletta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Ascoli will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Ternana 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Zakaria Hamadi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zakaria Hamadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
59 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match2 Oct 2027
At last: Gubbio win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Bra. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marco Spina beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giovanni Di Noia commits to Gubbio for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Marco Spina 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The terraces4 Oct 2027
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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
67 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Gubbio
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match22 Sep 2027
The small margins put Gubbio out
Out, 0‑1 to Casertana, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
The goals have deserted Gubbio
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gubbio can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match25 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Gubbio against Pianese
0‑1 to Pianese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Luca Bonassi
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Gonzalo Santacruz wants to go home
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Squad
Gubbio are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
74 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Flavio Di Marzio is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Francesco Zallu has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Alashkert to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gubbio and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 7.32 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gubbio had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Titas Krapikas
81 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Ghirardello is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The clock did what Cesena would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2027
Titas Krapikas damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Sep 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Cesena; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Match4 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Gubbio close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 2 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Alejandro Cichero is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Atalanta wanted more than $160.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Gubbio asked and Stade Brestois said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Titas Krapikas
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Lorenzo Podda out for 25 days
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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Palermo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 7.87 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad30 Aug 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Accrington Stanley keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match28 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
$160.0K on the table at Atalanta. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
Titas Krapikas damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 32 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Giacomo Beretta had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The deal with Accrington Stanley 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Picerno have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market23 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Gubbio will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Titas Krapikas
112 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
39 days out for Lorenzo Podda after a fracture
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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The deal with Spezia 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Ghirardello is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Liverpool is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Marco Spina 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Stade Brestois have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
97 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Lorenzo Podda out for 46 days
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.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Aktobe come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gubbio did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Spezia is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
$300.0K was the most the club would pay and Pontedera 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 54 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Alberto Neri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MFK Skalica waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gubbio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The offer went to Pontedera 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Baye Diagne and Gubbio agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2027
111 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jul 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Pressure builds in the Gubbio boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market26 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Gubbio have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Giacomo Rosaia has improved at 34, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alcione Milano have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrea Signorini
118 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$220.0K settles it between the clubs for Leonardo Bovio
Inter 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$800.0K on the table at Guidonia Montecelio. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market19 Jul 2027
The fee is $430.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lazio drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Gubbio offered $110.0K; AlbinoLeffe said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
The town asked, and Gubbio paid $430.0K
Valerio Gelli was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $430.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2027
125 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 77 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gubbio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spezia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$430.0K settles it between the clubs for Valerio Gelli
Lazio 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Taraz come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gubbio did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marco Spina commits to Gubbio for another 3 years.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gubbio have gone to Inter 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Lorenzo Podda out for 85 days
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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Alberto Neri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Gubbio did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Potenza keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The offer went to AlbinoLeffe 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Gubbio offered $95.0K; Sorrento said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Andrea Signorini damages knee ligaments — 141 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 141 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
92 days out for Lorenzo Podda after a fracture
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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Gubbio
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gubbio is running low.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Ghirardello is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Potenza, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The offer went to Sorrento 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Taraz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rafael Melo. The answer from Gubbio has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
148 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Lorenzo Podda out for 99 days
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicola Bagnolini is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gubbio have done the hard part with Foggia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Nicola Murru in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sorrento have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Andrea Signorini may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Loan watch21 Jun 2027
30 appearances at Pineto and the goals keep coming. Gubbio are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Lorenzo Podda breaks a bone — 106 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jun 2027
Gubbio say no — this time
The offer from Botosani for Tommaso Ghirardello 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Como 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francesco Zallu and Gubbio agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan move for Jamal Iddrissou is in the works
Gubbio have made the call to Inter. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad14 Jun 2027
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Gubbio lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Market14 Jun 2027
Gubbio have made Giacomo Rosaia available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Frosinone 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Botosani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tommaso Ghirardello. The answer from Gubbio has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$440.0K on the table at Torino. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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 dugout7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giammarco Barletta 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ramón Palomares and Gubbio agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market7 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andrea Signorini has his answer from Gubbio; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 20 days
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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gubbio
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Rafael Melo gets picked when it counts
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 Rafael Melo is on it.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 28 days
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafael Melo, and the manager let it.
Loan watch24 May 2027
30 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout24 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andrea Signorini has written the date down.
Squad24 May 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Gubbio the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 35 days
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.
Squad17 May 2027
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Rafael Melo 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 dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Titas Krapikas, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Giacomo Rosaia asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Tommaso Ghirardello keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gubbio say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenzo Podda and Gubbio agree another 4 years.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Giacomo Rosaia 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.
Market10 May 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filippo Zenoni has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andrea Signorini has written the date down.
The dugout10 May 2027
Titas Krapikas asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad10 May 2027
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 51 days
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.
Squad3 May 2027
15 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Gubbio
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gubbio is running low.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Lorenzo Podda has moved up it.
Boardroom3 May 2027
$1.4M taken back off the Gubbio table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
The dugout3 May 2027
Rafael Melo gets picked when it counts
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 Rafael Melo is on it.
Market3 May 2027
Gubbio have let the market know Giacomo Rosaia can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout3 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andrea Signorini has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 60 days
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
22 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A Gubbio teenager takes the young player award
Gabriele Platto is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
30 appearances at Pineto and the goals keep coming. Gubbio are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 68 days
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Giammarco Barletta damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match19 Apr 2027
The season ends: position 14 for Gubbio
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 31 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Gabriele Platto, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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 terraces19 Apr 2027
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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Gubbio and Torres take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gubbio told Manuel Ferrini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Giammarco Barletta damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
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.
Market12 Apr 2027
“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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.72 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Gubbio caught on 88 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Vis Pesaro scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Gubbio pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match10 Apr 2027
It needed Tommaso Ghirardello to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vis Pesaro, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
82 days out for Andrea La Mantia after a fracture
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Giammarco Barletta damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Apr 2027
Gubbio say no — this time
The offer from Aalesund for Tommaso Ghirardello 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
A promise honoured at Gubbio
Something was said to Federico Carraro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead5 Apr 2027
Vis Pesaro 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 90 days
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
53 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match27 Mar 2027
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market29 Mar 2027
The phone has started ringing about Tommaso Ghirardello again, and this time the name on the line is Aalesund. Gubbio are listening politely and promising nothing.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Francesco Zallu 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Federico Carraro. 1‑0 against Pineto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Rosaia, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Rafael Melo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Mar 2027
60 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
9 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gubbio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Daniele Borra 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 terraces22 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicola Bagnolini 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Alberto Neri to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 104 days
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
67 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Gubbio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Mar 2027
Gubbio come up short against Carpi
Carpi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Alberto Neri to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 112 days
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
74 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Gubbio
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market8 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrea La Mantia commits to Gubbio for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristiano Sala 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Nobody could get near Sven Šunta
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Mar 2027
82 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Match27 Feb 2027
6 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Giacomo Rosaia
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
126 days out for Andrea La Mantia after a fracture
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
90 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.63 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alberto Neri after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Sven Šunta
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Andrea La Mantia out for 134 days
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
97 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Match13 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Paolo Martinelli, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.35 on the card, and the Gubbio support went home talking about one name.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Daniele Borra
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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Halid Djankpata
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nicolò Fazzi breaks a bone — 42 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tommaso Ghirardello had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renato Raimondi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Gubbio
Rafael Melo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
In brief
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The dugout
Daniele Borra dropped after a run of poor form
-
Player ratings
Lorenzo Podda shuts the door
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
111 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Nicolò Fazzi out for 49 days
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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Edoardo Meconi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gubbio have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Daniele Borra 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Rosaia, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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 dugout1 Feb 2027
A promise honoured at Gubbio
Something was said to Francesco Zallu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
118 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Nicolò Fazzi out for 57 days
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Andrea La Mantia, 35, rolls back the years — 7.85
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nicola Murru in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Sven Šunta runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
It needed Andrea La Mantia to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Pianese, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alberto Neri after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Nicolò Fazzi breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The plan did not have a place for Federico Carraro
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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
72 days out for Nicolò Fazzi after a fracture
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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Porto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Colón is saying, and nobody at Gubbio is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Perugia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Alberto Neri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Paris Saint-Germain have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Daniele Borra dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
79 days out for Nicolò Fazzi after a fracture
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“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 dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alberto Neri to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Nicola Murru's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Nahuel Curcio is in the works
Gubbio have made the call to Colón. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Porto have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Gubbio, and it is a cruel one.
In brief
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Lyfe Oldenstam
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Rafael Melo
-
Squad
A Gubbio teenager takes the young player award
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
86 days out for Nicolò Fazzi after a fracture
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
At last: Gubbio win one
11 matches without a win, and then this, against Livorno. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Lyfe Oldenstam, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 2‑1 win over Livorno, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Sven Šunta is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nicolò Fazzi breaks a bone — 94 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a goal for Gubbio
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match19 Dec 2026
Torres left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match21 Dec 2026
Halfway: Gubbio sit in position 16
14 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rafael Melo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gubbio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Daniele Borra
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 dugout21 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gubbio told Alberto Tentardini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
10 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nicolò Fazzi breaks a bone — 101 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Gubbio
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gubbio can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicola Palmieri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Dec 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Alberto Neri chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
108 days out for Nicolò Fazzi after a fracture
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
9 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for Gubbio
A 0‑3 beating by Sambenedettese was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match7 Dec 2026
Gubbio sink to position 16
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a goal for Gubbio
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Gubbio
Nicola Murru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Gubbio dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
Nicolò Fazzi breaks a bone — 115 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Gubbio cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match28 Nov 2026
Pineto left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alberto Neri after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Podda
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Alberto Neri left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Daniele Borra
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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Sven Šunta knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sven Šunta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 6. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 18 days
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.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Gubbio
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gubbio are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Daniele Borra dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
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.” Alberto Neri chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Sven Šunta asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Carpi will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Andrea La Mantia scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ravenna, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market9 Nov 2026
One of our own: Ciro Canali joins the Gubbio first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ciro Canali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alberto Neri after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
32 days out for Giacomo Rosaia after a fracture
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Gubbio's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gubbio has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicola Bagnolini 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Gubbio
Rafael Melo 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Sven Šunta
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sven Šunta has come out of that comparison in the side, and Gubbio have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad26 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Lyfe Oldenstam, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Gubbio
Daniele Borra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tommaso Ghirardello commits to Gubbio for another 5 years.
Match24 Oct 2026
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Zallu, and the manager let it.
Match24 Oct 2026
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 48 days
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Gabriele Platto at 18 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriele Platto did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Daniele Borra dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match17 Oct 2026
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alberto Neri after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gubbio told Gabriele Platto something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Pontedera 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicola Bagnolini is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Sorrentino is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alberto Neri to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 62 days
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tommaso Ghirardello did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Tommaso Ghirardello’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gubbio.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alessio Di Massimo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 98% of the Gubbio income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 69 days
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.
Match23 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Gubbio
1‑2 against Sampdoria, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Sven Šunta beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Andrea La Mantia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gubbio.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Both jobs done by Rafael Melo — 7.25
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.25, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 76 days
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.63, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Daniele Borra dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alberto Neri on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 dugout21 Sep 2026
Daniele Borra knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniele Borra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑3 to Perugia, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emanuele Bertolini 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alberto Fiorini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Gubbio
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alberto Neri after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Rafael Melo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I want to play”: Sven Šunta speaks
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.05 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 17 in, 1 out at Gubbio
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Daniele Borra 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Gubbio against Arezzo
2‑3 to Arezzo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Bagnolini, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Gubbio
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Rafael Melo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Livorno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
Arezzo 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Giacomo Rosaia breaks a bone — 106 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 2026
Gubbio say no — this time
The offer from Dugopolje for Tommaso Ghirardello 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Gubbio
Giovanni Di Noia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Gubbio offered $180.0K; AC Milan 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Torino: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The formation has left Rafael Melo behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Gubbio will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Gubbio say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Livorno in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Giacomo Rosaia breaks a bone — 113 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ascoli have kept their man, and Gubbio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Tommaso Ghirardello again, and this time the name on the line is Borneo. Gubbio are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$180.0K on the table at AC Milan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Rafael Melo is in the works
Gubbio have made the call to Torino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sven Šunta needs a bigger stage
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
121 days out for Giacomo Rosaia after a fracture
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Francesco Zallu had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Südtirol, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fabio Barbieri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Giacomo Rosaia out for 128 days
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: AZAL have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Francesco Zallu. The answer from Gubbio has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea La Mantia and Gubbio agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Gubbio
Andrea La Mantia 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 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.