From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Mar 2030
Padova sink to position 20
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match9 Mar 2030
Nowhere to hide for Padova
0‑3 against Palermo, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market11 Mar 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
Padova still without a manager
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad11 Mar 2030
A season average of 7.28 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Padova pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
Doors closed at Padova
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
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.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Market4 Mar 2030
“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.
Market4 Mar 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Capelli and Padova agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Chori wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Padova know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Feb 2030
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Feb 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
Südtirol made Padova work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
A performance of 9.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
A performance of 8.78 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A season average of 7.26 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
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.
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
Wages eat 104% of everything Padova earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Feb 2030
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 Feb 2030
“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.
Match16 Feb 2030
Virtus Entella left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
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.
Market18 Feb 2030
The name of Gianluca Caprari keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Padova say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
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 ratings18 Feb 2030
5.70 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Padova
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Padova is running low.
Match11 Feb 2030
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market11 Feb 2030
“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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Feb 2030
A 3‑1 win over Carrarese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Marked 8.79 — 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.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Feb 2030
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match2 Feb 2030
Nowhere to hide for Padova
1‑4 against Cesena, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Feb 2030
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Feb 2030
The Bra deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kevin Lasagna reports back to Padova with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market4 Feb 2030
Business is business: Alan Matturro goes
Atalanta paid $3.7M and Padova took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Varas and Padova agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jan 2030
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Jan 2030
There were 8 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.
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jan 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Jan 2030
The Alan Matturro conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Atalanta will make the call about Alan Matturro this week. Padova have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Match26 Jan 2030
Juventus left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Jan 2030
No hiding place for Chori
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chori, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Jan 2030
A season average of 7.20 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jan 2030
The wait goes on for Padova
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market21 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jan 2030
The bid was some way short and Padova did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Market21 Jan 2030
Felipe Micael has left for Renate in a $510.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Jan 2030
“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.
Match19 Jan 2030
Padova come up short against Monza
Monza left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Jan 2030
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Emiliano Lo Biundo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
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
Match12 Jan 2030
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Match14 Jan 2030
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 Jan 2030
There were 8 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.
Market14 Jan 2030
Ospitaletto come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Padova did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Padova
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market14 Jan 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jan 2030
49 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match5 Jan 2030
10 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Jan 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Jan 2030
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Dec 2029
9 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Market31 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Dec 2029
Dan Cameron has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Dec 2029
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Chori wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Padova know it.
Squad31 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Federico Papini
“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 ratings31 Dec 2029
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
8 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2029
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match22 Dec 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Defensive actions: 32. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Dec 2029
Only the photograph left for Felipe Micael
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Micael will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market24 Dec 2029
Dan Cameron hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Amit Mamut: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Lasagna, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Dec 2029
There were 14 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.
Match17 Dec 2029
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 20, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match15 Dec 2029
Nowhere to hide for Padova
0‑3 against Sassuolo, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market17 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Match15 Dec 2029
7 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Dec 2029
77 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market17 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2029
64 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Dec 2029
There were 8 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.
Match8 Dec 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Match8 Dec 2029
Bari take the points off Padova
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Still nobody in the Padova dugout
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Marco Silvestri
“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 Dec 2029
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Alessandro Di Munno, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Market3 Dec 2029
Mats Seiler hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Match1 Dec 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianluca Caprari and Padova agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Dec 2029
1‑2 to Catanzaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Nov 2029
There were 12 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.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
Pressure builds in the Padova boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Nov 2029
Only the photograph left for Felipe Micael
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Micael will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market26 Nov 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Nov 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Crisetig, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Marked 8.49 — 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Nov 2029
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match19 Nov 2029
Padova sink to position 20
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market19 Nov 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market19 Nov 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
92 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match17 Nov 2029
Mattia Bortolussi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Modena, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad19 Nov 2029
“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 ratings19 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Nov 2029
“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 ratings12 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Nov 2029
A bad afternoon for Padova against Avellino
2‑4 to Avellino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“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 ratings12 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
Market12 Nov 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mattia Bortolussi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market5 Nov 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market5 Nov 2029
Mats Seiler hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
Reggiana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Micael, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
Wages eat 93% of everything Padova 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Silvestri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Oct 2029
There were 14 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market29 Oct 2029
Chori hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Padova
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 Oct 2029
Only the photograph left for Felipe Micael
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Micael will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Home is on Chori's mind
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Padova are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match27 Oct 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Felipe Micael’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Padova.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Marked 8.55 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match20 Oct 2029
7 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Market22 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 Oct 2029
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Kevin Lasagna, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Oct 2029
The medical room confirms 120 days on the sidelines for Emiliano Lo Biundo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.84 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Oct 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match13 Oct 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.59 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Marked 8.01 — 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 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Francesco Belli
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match13 Oct 2029
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Oct 2029
A hiding for Padova
Beaten 0‑3 by Virtus Entella, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market8 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match6 Oct 2029
5 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
86% of the income goes out in wages at Padova
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 ratings8 Oct 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Oct 2029
There were 8 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.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Pressure builds in the Padova boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Oct 2029
Felipe Micael has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market1 Oct 2029
Mats Seiler hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Oct 2029
The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Lorenzo Crisetig, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match29 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Sep 2029
1‑2 to Carrarese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Sep 2029
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match19 Sep 2029
The cup run ends for Padova
0‑1 against Cavese, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Di Munno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market24 Sep 2029
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
The medical room confirms 55 days on the sidelines for Kevin Lasagna, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Sep 2029
Cesena left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
There were 12 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.
Market17 Sep 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Sep 2029
Juventus left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Alan Matturro
“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 ratings17 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Silvestri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 Sep 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mattia Bortolussi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Marked 5.57, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 41, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market10 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Sep 2029
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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings10 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match8 Sep 2029
Monza made Padova work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market3 Sep 2029
Only the photograph left for Felipe Micael
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Micael will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market3 Sep 2029
Mats Seiler hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Sep 2029
The medical room confirms 67 days on the sidelines for Lorenzo Crisetig, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Sep 2029
Pescara left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Home is on Chori's mind
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Padova are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.70, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Aug 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Di Munno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Francesco Di Mariano, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad27 Aug 2029
83 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Market27 Aug 2029
The shirt still fits. Francesco Ravelli is back at Padova, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Aug 2029
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 20, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market20 Aug 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Aug 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Padova will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market20 Aug 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alan Matturro signs something — a contract at Padova or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Aug 2029
Padova have made Alan Matturro available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Aug 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Belli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market13 Aug 2029
The name of Felipe Micael has come up in conversations Padova were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amit Mamut and Padova agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
Wages eat 89% of everything Padova earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Padova interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Market6 Aug 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Aug 2029
95 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Silvestri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Cristini, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jul 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Jul 2029
44 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad30 Jul 2029
The medical room confirms 111 days on the sidelines for Kevin Lasagna, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market30 Jul 2029
Padova have let the market know Federico Papini can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jul 2029
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 20, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market23 Jul 2029
Kevin Lasagna hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Primasso and Padova agree another 4 years.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Padova are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Jul 2029
Denny Pucci hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
20 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
106% of the income goes out in wages at Padova
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Alan Matturro knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Still no name above the door at Padova
Day 8 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bradley Moonan and Padova agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market9 Jul 2029
He is 19, and nobody at Padova signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market9 Jul 2029
Padova sign Chori, one for the future
Chori is 18, and Padova have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Market2 Jul 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Squad2 Jul 2029
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad2 Jul 2029
139 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 Jul 2029
Denny Pucci asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
$536.5K taken back off the Padova table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Jun 2029
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Kevin Lasagna knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Lasagna trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market25 Jun 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market25 Jun 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Federico Papini may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jun 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 Jun 2029
48 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
104% of the income goes out in wages at Padova
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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Marco Silvestri asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market18 Jun 2029
The name of Gianluca Caprari keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Padova say nothing, which says plenty.
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Supporters make their feelings known about Alan Matturro
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Padova would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Market18 Jun 2029
Padova have made Marco Silvestri available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market18 Jun 2029
The clock does Francesco Belli’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Padova could ask drops and the wages Francesco Belli can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jun 2029
Trento come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Padova did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Market11 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Gianluca Caprari asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“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
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Padova
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Padova is running low.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The medical room confirms 100 days on the sidelines for Francesco Di Mariano, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
Add another name to the list: Campobasso have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Amit Mamut. The answer from Padova has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Gianluca Caprari asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Gianluca Caprari. Padova will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$536.5K taken back off the Padova table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 May 2029
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 20, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market28 May 2029
Kevin Lasagna hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 May 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 May 2029
Kevin Varas 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Alan Matturro asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market28 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alan Matturro’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 2029
“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.
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Papini, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 May 2029
Wages eat 114% of everything Padova 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.
Squad21 May 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Padova are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 May 2029
Alan Matturro asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market21 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market21 May 2029
Padova have let the market know Marco Silvestri can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market21 May 2029
7 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Padova money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 May 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
11 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 May 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 May 2029
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.
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 May 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Match12 May 2029
Sampdoria left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 May 2029
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Marked 8.35 — 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.
Squad14 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Francesco Scapoli commits to Padova for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
Padova interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Match5 May 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market7 May 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 May 2029
Alan Matturro wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Padova hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianluca Caprari and Padova agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 May 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Marked 8.87 — 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Mattia Bortolussi
7 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Apr 2029
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 20, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match28 Apr 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market30 Apr 2029
Kevin Lasagna hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Apr 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Apr 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“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 ratings30 Apr 2029
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Apr 2029
There were 14 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.
Market23 Apr 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Apr 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Apr 2029
A bad afternoon for Padova against Sassuolo
1‑2 to Sassuolo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Marco Silvestri
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
123% of the income goes out in wages at Padova
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 ratings23 Apr 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Apr 2029
2‑6 to Bari, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match14 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market16 Apr 2029
“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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padova they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Denny Pucci 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
Squad16 Apr 2029
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
Match7 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
Padova still without a manager
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Match7 Apr 2029
1‑2 to Catanzaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Apr 2029
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Padova pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bradley Moonan and Padova agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad2 Apr 2029
There were 13 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.
Match2 Apr 2029
Padova sink to position 20
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match31 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“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
Squad26 Mar 2029
There were 13 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.
Market26 Mar 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Federico Papini
“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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
119% of the income goes out in wages at Padova
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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Mattia Bortolussi
6 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The terraces26 Mar 2029
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
Market19 Mar 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Mar 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Mar 2029
The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Filippo Sgarbi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market19 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Mar 2029
A hiding for Padova
Beaten 2‑6 by Reggiana, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Crisetig, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 8.67 — 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Mar 2029
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Padova
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A performance of 8.91 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 ratings26 Feb 2029
A performance of 9.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Feb 2029
A 2‑1 win over Frosinone, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
113% of the income goes out in wages at Padova
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.
Loan watch26 Feb 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Padova, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Davi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Gianluca Mazzi: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad19 Feb 2029
The medical room confirms 65 days on the sidelines for Filippo Sgarbi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market19 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enrico Silletti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Marked 9.03 — 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“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.
Match17 Feb 2029
A 1‑0 win over Südtirol, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2029
0‑3 to Virtus Entella, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market12 Feb 2029
“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.
Match10 Feb 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Silvestri, and the manager let it.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rodolfo Moisés commits to Padova for another 3 years.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Shots: 14. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Gianluca Caprari asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match5 Feb 2029
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Marco Silvestri: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match3 Feb 2029
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings5 Feb 2029
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“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.
Match3 Feb 2029
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
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2029
There were 13 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Jan 2029
5 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Jan 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amit Mamut commits to Padova for another 4 years.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Felipe Micael
“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.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
Wages eat 96% of everything Padova earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market22 Jan 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Jan 2029
93 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market22 Jan 2029
The phone has started ringing about Filippo Sgarbi again, and this time the name on the line is Parma. Padova are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“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.
Market22 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Jan 2029
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alessandro Di Munno has his answer from Padova; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2029
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Still no name above the door at Padova
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Match13 Jan 2029
A bad afternoon for Padova against Modena
1‑2 to Modena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Matturro, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.96 on the card, and the Padova support went home talking about one name.
Market15 Jan 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Padova will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Padova needed to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Cesare Rizzi clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Match8 Jan 2029
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market8 Jan 2029
Genoa come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Padova did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Danila Vedernikov and Padova agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
Pescara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Jan 2029
“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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Dec 2028
Filippo Sgarbi scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Sampdoria, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“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 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
Wages eat 96% of everything Padova earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Carlo Faedo: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings25 Dec 2028
A performance of 9.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match23 Dec 2028
A 1‑0 win over Palermo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Alan Matturro asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Dec 2028
Filippo Sgarbi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Mantova, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Belli, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match11 Dec 2028
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 20 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match9 Dec 2028
0‑3 to Sassuolo, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match9 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Dec 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings11 Dec 2028
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.
Squad11 Dec 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.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Dec 2028
A hiding for Padova
Beaten 2‑5 by Bari, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Padova
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Cesare Rizzi has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Padova can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Dec 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 Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lorenzo Crisetig commits to Padova for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Micael, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Padova dressing room in a hurry
-
Squad
Costly mistake from Denny Pucci
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 88% of everything Padova earn
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
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.
Match25 Nov 2028
4 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 Nov 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 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 ratings27 Nov 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market27 Nov 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A mark of 5.55 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
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.
Squad20 Nov 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Nov 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Nov 2028
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Cristian Buonaiuto, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad20 Nov 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.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2028
Padova sink to position 20
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match11 Nov 2028
A hiding for Padova
Beaten 0‑3 by Juve Stabia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market13 Nov 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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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 ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Matturro, and the manager let it.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
Nobody left the Padova dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Denny Pucci lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and N'dri Philippe Koffi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Padova
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Padova is running low.
Squad6 Nov 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Marked 8.68 — 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 Nov 2028
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Padova have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad6 Nov 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Padova will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
4.24 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Oct 2028
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Oct 2028
Reggiana made Padova work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.93 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Oct 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 ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 8.69 — 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Felipe Micael knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Felipe Micael trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Shots: 10, 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
Match21 Oct 2028
15 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Oct 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.
Squad23 Oct 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
70 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match21 Oct 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Spezia leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Oct 2028
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Market16 Oct 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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Oct 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 ratings16 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Oct 2028
The wait goes on for Padova
13 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.
Squad9 Oct 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.
Squad9 Oct 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gianluca Caprari commits to Padova for another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Oct 2028
A bad afternoon for Padova against Südtirol
3‑4 to Südtirol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.63 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Padova, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Padova
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gianluca Caprari and Padova agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
1‑2 to Virtus Entella, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Oct 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 ratings2 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2028
11 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Match20 Sep 2028
The cup run ends for Padova
0‑0 against Forli, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Denny Pucci is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Denny Pucci: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 103 days on the sidelines for Cristian Buonaiuto, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match23 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
The kick that got away from Federico Davi
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Capelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2028
9 matches without a win for Padova
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Padova are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Sep 2028
Alan Matturro hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Alan Matturro: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Sep 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
Kevin Lasagna scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Cesena, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Felipe Micael
“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 ratings18 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Padova lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Sep 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.
Squad11 Sep 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Sep 2028
Empoli left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Sep 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 ratings11 Sep 2028
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario Pietropaolo and Padova agree another 4 years.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match2 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Padova
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 ratings4 Sep 2028
A performance of 8.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad4 Sep 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 ratings4 Sep 2028
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Sep 2028
It needed Mattia Bortolussi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Modena, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Shots: 12, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad4 Sep 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Padova have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
Pressure builds in the Padova boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match26 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A one-man rearguard from Denny Pucci
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad28 Aug 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
133 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
It needed Mattia Bortolussi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Pescara, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Market21 Aug 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market21 Aug 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market21 Aug 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Gennaro Silvestri is a Padova player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market21 Aug 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Giacomo Fontana is a Padova player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Padova board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Aug 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Vis Pesaro will make the call about Cristian Buonaiuto this week. Padova have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad14 Aug 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Aug 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gianluca Caprari’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 Aug 2028
The clock runs on Giulio Favale's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2028
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 18, 33 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Squad7 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristian Buonaiuto and Padova agree another 1 years.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
Padova pull $2.5M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Padova
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Padova is running low.
Squad31 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 162 days on the sidelines for Cristian Buonaiuto, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 Jul 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jul 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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Loris Davide Capodieci, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Jul 2028
The bid was some way short and Padova did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Jul 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jul 2028
Padova sink to position 18
33 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 Jul 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Giovanni Giunti
“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.
Market10 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Denny Pucci has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Padova that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Pressure builds in the Padova boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Cesare Rizzi has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Padova can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 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 Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Giovanni Giunti: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Padova heard it as anything else.
Market3 Jul 2028
The fee is $400.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Casarano drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad3 Jul 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Alessandro Seghetti, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Di Munno, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Matturro and Padova agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jun 2028
Padova get their man
The chase for Alan Matturro ended with $7.2M changing hands and Genoa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market19 Jun 2028
Padova get their man
The chase for Gianluca Mazzi ended with $470.0K changing hands and Guidonia Montecelio out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Andrea Cristini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Giulio Favale
“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
Match12 Jun 2028
Every point is an argument now for Padova
Position 18 and 33 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market12 Jun 2028
Padova get their man
The chase for Federico Davi ended with $690.0K changing hands and Südtirol out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Filippo Sgarbi has his answer from Padova; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Kevin Lasagna
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Lorenzo Crisetig asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The caretaker keeps it: Cesare Rizzi confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Capelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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.
Squad29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Kevin Varas
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Mattia Bortolussi 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
“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.
Market22 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gianluca Caprari’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch22 May 2028
34 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad22 May 2028
Kevin Varas asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 May 2028
Chastening afternoon for Padova
A 0‑4 beating by Udinese was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match15 May 2028
Padova sink to position 18
33 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match13 May 2028
The wait goes on for Padova
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.
Squad15 May 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings15 May 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Still nobody in the Padova dugout
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad15 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.
Squad15 May 2028
A season average of 7.28 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Doors closed at Padova
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 May 2028
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Claudio Borghi clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad8 May 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom8 May 2028
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Squad8 May 2028
Giulio Favale: 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.” Padova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match6 May 2028
No end in sight to Padova's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenzo Crisetig and Padova agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Match6 May 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Hellas Verona leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 May 2028
Tempers go at Padova
Gianluca Caprari 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 ratings1 May 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad1 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Crisetig trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match29 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Mantova will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings1 May 2028
5.46 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Apr 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 Padova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Felipe Micael knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Felipe Micael trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gianluca Caprari’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2028
Padova are in real trouble now
Position 18, 31 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market17 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 Padova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 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 Padova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Filippo Sgarbi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Rizzo, and the manager let it.