28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Daniele Montevago 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.
Squad31 Jan 2033
Nikola Vlašić 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
AS Roma go through and Modena go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sylvester Owino has agreed terms with Bologna for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Oliver Christensen 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.
$270.0K on the table at Fiorentina. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Santiago Ruiz has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Modena asked and Udinese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitória waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Modena and Fiorentina have settled on $270.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Modena had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Monaco, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Daniele Montevago was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wolfsberger AC have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jan 2033
Nikola Vlašić 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.
Modena asked and Wigan Athletic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Position 19, 6 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Modena rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Sassuolo had no answer to any of it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Modena training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matteo Francesconi 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 Dec 2032
Nikola Vlašić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Udinese the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Modena will enjoy reviewing.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout22 Nov 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Modena dressing room was either.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Modena and Atalanta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
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 2‑5 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Alessandro Selvini obliged against Renate. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Modena.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Modena told Matteo Francesconi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
0‑4 to AC Milan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Daniele Montevago was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Day 38 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Vlašić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Vlašić. 2‑1 against Palermo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Palermo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Modena will try again when the window opens; Bologna may not be selling by then.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Modena can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Everything agreed with Bologna, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 21 gone
That is the business done at Modena 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Vlašić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The first defeat in 15 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Como; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vlašić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sunderland have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
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.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Málaga have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Modena asked and Genoa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Matteo Francesconi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Nikola Vlašić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Nikola Vlašić again, and this time the name on the line is AS Roma. Modena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Modena have gone to Bologna with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Coventry City keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Nikola Vlašić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oxford United have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2032
5 new faces, and Modena 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.
Modena asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sassuolo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Modena have done the hard part with Cosenza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Ćurković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mario Paura has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Santiago Asprilla has his answer from Modena; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Modena and Genoa have settled on $1.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Oxford United is saying, and nobody at Modena is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Nikola Vlašić 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Santiago Ruiz 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.
Modena and Torino have settled on $5.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Bari this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Monaco keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fabio Gerli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Jul 2032
Modena spend $13.5M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $13.5M for Matteo Francesconi, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
At 26 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.
In brief
SquadFacundo Mallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Laureano Torrejón's mistake
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Preston had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fabio Gerli 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.
Modena asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Modena know now that the thought has arrived.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fabio Gerli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Modena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Preston have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alessandro Selvini. The answer from Modena has not changed — yet.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
$6.7M was the most the club would pay and Napoli 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.
Bologna have accepted the money. What Modena do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Modena asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Oxford United is saying, and nobody at Modena is enjoying the guessing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Minel Kujraković has agreed terms with Torino for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
SquadLuka Ćurković falls out with a teammate over standards
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Torino; Modena go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Modena have gone to Napoli with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer from Juve Stabia for Minel Kujraković was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
Modena have made the call to Oxford United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Facundo Mallo 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.
Torino have accepted the money. What Modena do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Stockport County for Stênio was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alessandro Selvini had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Modena had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fabio Gerli 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 Jun 2032
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Mallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Modena has been clear about where Santiago Ruiz stands, which is more than many ever get.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Lumezzane have accepted the money. What Modena do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fabio Gerli 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.
$230.0K on the table at Ascoli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mario Paura has, at Modena, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Xəyal Fərzullayev commits to Modena for another 3 years.
Squad31 May 2032
Facundo Mallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oliver Christensen signs something — a contract at Modena or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Alessandro Selvini is on it.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Sganzerla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Mallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Thiago Taborda is on it.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Nikola Vlašić will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Modena escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Position 3 on 76 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Fabio Gerli 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 words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fabio Gerli 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stênio. 2‑0 against Hellas Verona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 7.82. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout10 May 2032
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad10 May 2032
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Mallo 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.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Südtirol scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Virtus Entella will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Modena were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Sganzerla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 9.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fabio Gerli 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Position 3, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fabio Gerli 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.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
90 minutes played. Antonio Imputato found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Empoli went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antonio Imputato. 2‑1 against Empoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Avellino will replay every second of the added time for a week.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.95 beside his name.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Modena scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fabio Gerli 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fabio Gerli. 1‑0 against Reggiana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
500 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fabio Gerli. 2‑0 against Spezia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thiago Taborda wants continental football; whether Modena can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
Match6 Mar 2032
Andrea Luongo wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Andrea Luongo found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Frosinone went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fabio Gerli 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.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Andrea Luongo will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Modena escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fabio Gerli 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 words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
144 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Modena asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Modena close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 7 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Fabio Gerli 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 words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stênio provided it, and the 7.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Modena have done the hard part with Bologna, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Modena asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Modena asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Modena have gone to Atalanta 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Modena had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Potenza, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Torino; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Avellino for Giacomo Corona 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.
Everything agreed with Benevento, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Modena will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Modena have had the benefit of it.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fabio Gerli 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Hellas Verona the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Modena will enjoy reviewing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
A brace, and Nikola Vlašić takes the afternoon — 9.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Vlašić provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Borys Skraburski had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Benevento were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.61 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Merkaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sersanti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
A brace, and Nikola Vlašić takes the afternoon — 9.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Vlašić provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Nikola Vlašić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Modena.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Giacomo Corona was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.54. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stênio provided it, and the 7.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stênio. 2‑0 against Empoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Merkaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” the manager kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Antonio Imputato and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Nikola Vlašić was the best thing in any of them.
Reggiana will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Modena were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
A brace, and Nikola Vlašić takes the afternoon — 9.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Vlašić provided it, and the 9.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.47 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Oliver Christensen 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Modena and Reggiana in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Borys Skraburski provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Frosinone had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Something was said to Alejo Fernández and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” the manager chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Merkaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Modena will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Oliver Christensen 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Modena will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
Sassuolo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Modena know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Modena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Modena found something the first half had given no notice of, and Catanzaro could not hold what they had.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.51 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Vlašić. 4‑3 against Catanzaro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cremonese kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Modena will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Modena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
A brace, and Nikola Vlašić takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Vlašić provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Merkaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silvio Merkaj, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Facundo Mallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Modena will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nikola Vlašić scored in the 85th minute, Juve Stabia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Modena took the lot.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrea Luongo 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.
In brief
Player ratingsGiacomo Corona was on a different afternoon to everybody else
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Modena lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Modena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Modena will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Monza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Modena asked and Udinese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at Modena is enjoying the guessing.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Modena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Oliver Christensen 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luka Ćurković has, at Modena, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mattia Piccini has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gregorio Bianco 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Preston had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Minel Kujraković is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Andrea Luongo 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Modena know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Vlašić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The phone has started ringing about Silvio Merkaj again, and this time the name on the line is Arezzo. Modena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Borys Skraburski is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Sersanti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arezzo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Modena is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fabio Gerli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Modena has been clear about where Silvio Merkaj stands, which is more than many ever get.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Modena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Modena people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 name of Borys Skraburski has come up in conversations Modena were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Consiglio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Modena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sylvester Owino is living that version at Modena, and it tends to show in the first month.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
In brief
SquadThiago Taborda falls out with a teammate over standards
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Add another name to the list: Arezzo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Silvio Merkaj. The answer from Modena has not changed — yet.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Aimar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Modena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
Santiago Ruiz is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gabriele Landulfo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mohamed Raafat has, at Modena, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Gerli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Modena are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giacomo Corona trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Modena hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Nikola Vlašić was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Gerli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Gerli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Modena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alessandro Sersanti signs something — a contract at Modena or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 13 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 May 2031
Silvio Merkaj falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Modena heard it as anything else.
Oliver Christensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 May 2031
Fabio Gerli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Modena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Oliver Christensen 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Gerli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sersanti 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.
400 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Giacomo Corona will call it something else in private.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Modena can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Venezia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sersanti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Modena know it.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Silvio Merkaj
0‑6 to AS Roma, 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.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oliver Christensen 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.
Match5 Apr 2031
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Modena and AS Roma in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Gerli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Modena has been clear about where Fabio Gerli stands, which is more than many ever get.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Silvio Merkaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Modena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oliver Christensen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Fabio Gerli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Modena can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑3 to Genoa, 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.
“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 Modena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Modena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Modena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Gerli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Modena can pretend not to have heard.
Oliver Christensen 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words at Modena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silvio Merkaj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Daniele Montevago will call it something else in private.