From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Sep 2028
Marco Da Graca damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Age has not caught Eric Lanini yet — 8.69
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.69 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match9 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Novara
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Cortese. 2‑1 against Virtus Verona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roberto Zammarini, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Novara will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market11 Sep 2028
The Eric Lanini talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Novara know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
5.63 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
Marco Da Graca damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match2 Sep 2028
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Leonardo Di Cosmo decided nobody was going anywhere. Pergolettese had no time left to answer.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Paolo Rozzio, 36, rolls back the years — 7.98
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The Novara board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Match2 Sep 2028
Whatever happens, Novara do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A performance of 9.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Sep 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Leonardo Di Cosmo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Novara.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Paolo Rozzio gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Aug 2028
Marco Da Graca damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Still nobody has beaten Novara
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
The afternoon belonged to Ángel García
A mark of 7.90, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match26 Aug 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Dolomiti Bellunesi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Elia Boseggia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Novara will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
Marco Da Graca damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Francesco Sartori is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Marco Da Graca has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Graduation day at Novara
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market21 Aug 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matteo Ceccarelli 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.
Market21 Aug 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Flavio Fiorini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market21 Aug 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Silvio Giuliani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market21 Aug 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filippo Bruni 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Novara board go back on their word
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Boardroom
Novara turn down the training-ground plan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Aug 2028
Mattia Malaspina is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Nicolò Ledonne has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Roberto Zammarini 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.
Market14 Aug 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Novara know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces14 Aug 2028
Supporters make their feelings known about Elia Boseggia
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Novara would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Alessandro Citi out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Novara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roberto Zammarini commits to Novara for another 2 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Marco Nazzaro is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Aug 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Eric Lanini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market7 Aug 2028
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Alessandro Citi out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Novara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Felix Mahlknecht is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Market31 Jul 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market31 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Thomas Alberti’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
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Market
Filip Ret leaves for nothing
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Boardroom
The Novara production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“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.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Mattia Malaspina is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Zammarini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 Jul 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Riccardo Arboscello is a Novara player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Roberto Zammarini 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Grigorjev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Novara sign 7 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giuseppe Agyemang commits to Novara for another 3 years.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Omar Khailoti: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 May 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Novara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 May 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 May 2028
“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 Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Marco Da Graca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad15 May 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Novara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eric Lanini commits to Novara for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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 May 2028
Roberto Zammarini 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings1 May 2028
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad1 May 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Zammarini 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.
Squad1 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 May 2028
The plan did not have a place for Paolo Rozzio
Nobody at Novara is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Match29 Apr 2028
Point won or two lost for Novara?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cittadella? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Marco Da Graca 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
A 2‑1 win over Ospitaletto, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match22 Apr 2028
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Ospitaletto tried to reorganise, Novara did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Paolo Rozzio left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Paolo Rozzio will call it something else in private.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Novara will not try tonight.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo D'Alessio, and the manager let it.
Market24 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Elia Boseggia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Apr 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Zammarini 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
3 matches without a goal for Novara
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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Novara told Roberto Zammarini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Thomas Alberti
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Match15 Apr 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Pro Vercelli came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market17 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Eric Lanini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Arboscello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Novara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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 Apr 2028
Roberto Zammarini falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Apr 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Novara has been clear about where Leonardo D'Alessio stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Elia Boseggia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Novara will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Match8 Apr 2028
Novara and Trento cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Trento came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Donadio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Novara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Paolo Rozzio for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Novara will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Marco Da Graca
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match1 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Giana Erminio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market3 Apr 2028
Andrea Valdesi is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Novara has been clear about where Andrea Valdesi stands, which is more than many ever get.
The terraces3 Apr 2028
The spotlight tightens on Eric Lanini
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Roberto Zammarini 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Alberti, and the manager let it.
Match25 Mar 2028
A 1‑0 win over Alcione Milano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market27 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Elia Boseggia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
5.74. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A brace, and Thomas Alberti takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomas Alberti provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Zammarini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match18 Mar 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Thomas Alberti’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Novara.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market13 Mar 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Arboscello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Novara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Lanini, and the manager let it.
Match11 Mar 2028
0‑1 to Union Brescia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Mar 2028
8 matches without a win for Novara
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Novara are no longer polite ones.
Market6 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Thomas Alberti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Zammarini 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
Marco Da Graca scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Lumezzane, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Alessandro Citi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nicolò Ledonne's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Novara lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match26 Feb 2028
4 matches without a goal for Novara
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Roberto Zammarini 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Elia Boseggia
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match26 Feb 2028
A bad afternoon for Novara against Vicenza
0‑1 to Vicenza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Feb 2028
6 matches without a win for Novara
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Novara are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
The goals have deserted Novara
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Novara can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paolo Rozzio, and the manager let it.
Match19 Feb 2028
Novara come up short against Lecco
Lecco left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Thomas Alberti
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Feb 2028
The wait goes on for Novara
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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Davide Bertoncini 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Elia Boseggia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Novara will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Match12 Feb 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pro Patria defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Feb 2028
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Match5 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Thomas Alberti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
85% of the income goes out in wages at Novara
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Jan 2028
Whatever happens, Novara do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Ercolani, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Jan 2028
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Novara will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match29 Jan 2028
Honours even between Novara and Renate
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Still nobody has beaten Novara
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Jan 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Novara will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Zammarini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match22 Jan 2028
Point won or two lost for Novara?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Virtus Verona? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Jan 2028
8 unbeaten for Novara
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Novara did not have in the autumn.
Market17 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Arboscello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Novara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Lanini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Jan 2028
This league is too small for Luca Ercolani
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Novara will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Match15 Jan 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market10 Jan 2028
The fee is $510.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Genoa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match8 Jan 2028
Whatever happens, Novara do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Jan 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Novara and Dolomiti Bellunesi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces10 Jan 2028
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Simone Calvani from Genoa for $510.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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 terraces10 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicolò Ledonne 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Jan 2028
“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 Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Mattia Malaspina 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Leonardo Di Cosmo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Leonardo Di Cosmo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Novara have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market3 Jan 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Davide Bertoncini has his answer from Novara; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Khailoti, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Still nobody has beaten Novara
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Elia Boseggia 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match25 Dec 2027
Three points for Novara, 1‑0 the final word against AlbinoLeffe in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Dec 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Andrea Valdesi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match18 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Cittadella will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Eric Lanini, 33, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match11 Dec 2027
Novara make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Novara have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match11 Dec 2027
Ospitaletto made Novara work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elia Boseggia, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match4 Dec 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Novara scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Marco Nazzaro: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Dec 2027
176 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Match4 Dec 2027
Novara make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Novara have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match4 Dec 2027
Three points for Novara, 1‑0 the final word against Pro Vercelli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Nov 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Match27 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Thomas Alberti’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Novara.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Alessandro Citi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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 terraces22 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicolò Ledonne 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paolo Rozzio, and the manager let it.
Match20 Nov 2027
Giana Erminio made Novara work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of Nicolò Ledonne at his very best
Marked 8.78. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Novara.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Di Cosmo, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Filippo Lorenzini 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Elia Boseggia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Novara will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
5.23. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Market15 Nov 2027
The name of Thomas Alberti keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Novara say nothing, which says plenty.
In brief
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Player ratings
Omar Khailoti never got going
-
Boardroom
The Novara production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Nov 2027
The cup run ends for Novara
1‑1 against Pescara, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market8 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Elia Boseggia: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Federico Serra, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match6 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Da Graca. 2‑0 against Union Brescia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davide Dell'Erba and Novara agree another 4 years.
Market1 Nov 2027
The Eric Lanini story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eric Lanini signs something — a contract at Novara or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market1 Nov 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Novara, another week without a signature from Leonardo D'Alessio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Novara
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Novara are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuseppe Agyemang, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.80 on the card, and the Novara support went home talking about one name.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bertoncini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match16 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Paolo Rozzio gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match16 Oct 2027
It needed Thomas Alberti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vicenza, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Elia Boseggia 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
A bad afternoon for Novara against Lecco
1‑3 to Lecco, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicolò Ledonne 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Lanini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eric Lanini and Novara agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match2 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 5.26. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
In brief
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Market
The Eric Lanini story refuses to die
-
Boardroom
The Novara production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Sep 2027
Novara march on in the cup
Sambenedettese are out and Novara go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Alessandro Citi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad27 Sep 2027
At 24 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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 terraces27 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Federico Serra 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A mark of 7.98, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match25 Sep 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Sep 2027
45 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 7.40. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match18 Sep 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Renate defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market20 Sep 2027
The name of Leonardo Di Cosmo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Novara say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gianmarco Basso
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Novara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Novara
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elia Boseggia is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Sep 2027
1‑2 to Virtus Verona, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gianmarco Basso
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Novara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match4 Sep 2027
7 matches without a win for Novara
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Novara are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Francesco Sartori is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, Novara do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Sep 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gianmarco Basso has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Novara.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
Gianmarco Basso damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match28 Aug 2027
6 matches without a win for Novara
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Novara are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Ángel García: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolò Ledonne is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Da Graca and Novara agree another 3 years.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
Gianmarco Basso damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Marco Nazzaro: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Valdesi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Novara
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martino Piras is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market23 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gerardo Caprioli 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matteo Marchetti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market23 Aug 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Giovanni Rizzi 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
No investment in the facilities at Novara
-
The terraces
Supporters make their feelings known about Francesco Sartori
-
Boardroom
The Novara production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
Gianmarco Basso damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elia Boseggia is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Gianmarco Basso damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Francesco Sartori is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
Gianmarco Basso damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Nicolò Ledonne is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
-
Market
Experience through the door at Novara
-
Market
The Elia Boseggia talk will not go away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gianmarco Basso
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Novara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Thomas Alberti has improved at 29, 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gianmarco Basso
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Novara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market19 Jul 2027
The Crotone deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Raffaele Sibilio reports back to Novara with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gianmarco Basso
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Novara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Jul 2027
Picerno come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Novara did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Filippo Lorenzini falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Gianmarco Basso damages knee ligaments — 93 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Elia Boseggia 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Picerno have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raffaele Sibilio. The answer from Novara has not changed — yet.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Novara academy
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolò Ledonne is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elia Boseggia is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raffaele Sibilio is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Thomas Alberti’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market31 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo D'Alessio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Novara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Marco Nazzaro
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Marco Da Graca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match8 May 2027
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 May 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Elia Boseggia
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bertoncini 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.
Match8 May 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. AlbinoLeffe came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market10 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Novara know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad10 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Novara, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Novara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match1 May 2027
The wait goes on for Novara
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Marco Da Graca 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 terraces3 May 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad3 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings3 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 May 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Nicolò Ledonne
10 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match1 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Cittadella leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ángel García: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Apr 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Novara pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match24 Apr 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ospitaletto defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Bertoncini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match17 Apr 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pro Vercelli defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Eric Lanini, 33, rolls back the years — 8.45
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Eric Lanini scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Trento, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Di Cosmo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elia Boseggia is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market5 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Novara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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 terraces5 Apr 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match3 Apr 2027
A 1‑0 win over Giana Erminio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Raffaele Sibilio: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Novara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match27 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolò Ledonne. 2‑0 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Novara
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted Novara
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Novara can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Eric Lanini
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market22 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Novara know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Marco Da Graca
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Novara pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Novara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Novara's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novara has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eric Lanini commits to Novara for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Di Cosmo, and the manager let it.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Mar 2027
59 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Francesco Sartori at 20 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Francesco Sartori did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match27 Feb 2027
Nobody wins at Novara
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Davide Bertoncini falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Lecco will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Elia Boseggia
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Davide Bertoncini 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Feb 2027
148 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Novara know what they have.
Market8 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Elia Boseggia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Novara, 1‑0 the final word against Triestina in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Novara can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
147 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Novara know what they have.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Marco Da Graca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Jan 2027
Novara and Renate cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Renate came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market1 Feb 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Novara, another week without a signature from Leonardo D'Alessio.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Thomas Alberti out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Novara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Novara, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Eric Lanini
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market25 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Novara know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuseppe Agyemang, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Nicolò Ledonne was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Eric Lanini at his very best
Marked 8.41. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Novara.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Marco Da Graca 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Elia Boseggia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Elia Boseggia is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market11 Jan 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Novara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leonardo D'Alessio 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Nicolò Ledonne at his very best
Marked 8.84. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Novara.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Dolomiti Bellunesi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Marco Da Graca
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market11 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Novara will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Novara will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Dec 2026
Novara refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 29 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Novara may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Nicolò Ledonne at his very best
Marked 8.78. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Novara.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over AlbinoLeffe, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
111% of the income goes out in wages at Novara
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Thomas Alberti out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Novara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Cittadella, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Thomas Alberti out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Novara will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.74 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nicolò Ledonne’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Novara.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Serra, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Lorenzini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Lanini, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marco Da Graca named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marco Da Graca is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Nov 2026
Novara are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.79, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match28 Nov 2026
Trento made Novara work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 108% of everything Novara earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Alberti, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Filippo Lorenzini 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Novara told Alessandro Citi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Giana Erminio will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for Novara, 2‑1 the final word against Alcione Milano in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Da Graca 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Novara
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Novara are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Elia Boseggia
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marco Da Graca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Marco Da Graca at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Novara.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 5.30, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Novara
Elia Boseggia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 108% of everything Novara earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Lorenzini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Novara
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Novara did not have in the autumn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Novara
Eric Lanini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Marco Da Graca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Novara are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Novara
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Eric Lanini in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adrian Cannavaro is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Morosini, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Novara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Arboscello 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.