From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Belts tighten at Pianese
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match29 Sep 2029
Simone Ardizzone scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Gubbio, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mamadou Baldé, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Luca Fabrizi named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Luca Fabrizi has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2029
Pianese march on in the cup
Torres are out and Pianese go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Sep 2029
The match ball belongs to Luca Fabrizi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad24 Sep 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Lorenzo Vigiani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Luca Fabrizi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.59. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match22 Sep 2029
Three points for Pianese, 3‑2 the final word against Bra in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces24 Sep 2029
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Sep 2029
Nowhere to hide for Pianese
0‑4 against Ascoli, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match15 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Andrea Di Palma: 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.” Pianese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
Doors closed at Pianese
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market17 Sep 2029
The name of Marco Tiozzo Pagio keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Pianese say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Sep 2029
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match8 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match8 Sep 2029
Guidonia Montecelio left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Sep 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 ratings10 Sep 2029
Vincenzo Lombardi ran the middle of the pitch — 6.60
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.60, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market10 Sep 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Proietto signs something — a contract at Pianese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Sep 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrea Bartoccioni had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad3 Sep 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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Marked 8.11 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Pianese until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match1 Sep 2029
4 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Lorenzo Vigiani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Belts tighten at Pianese
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The terraces3 Sep 2029
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Pianese
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Pianese asked and Pontedera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market27 Aug 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Silvio Trevisan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market27 Aug 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Danilo Caruso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market27 Aug 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pierpaolo Pasquali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market27 Aug 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michele Mazza is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
A promise the Pianese board did not keep
There was a commitment, there was a date, and the date went past. Trust at a football club takes years to build and one afternoon to spend.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Matteo Martina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Aug 2029
Ospitaletto come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Pianese did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lorenzo Vigiani commits to Pianese for another 3 years.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Pianese asked and Lecco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Simone Ardizzone and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad20 Aug 2029
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Adriano Ferri, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 Aug 2029
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match13 Aug 2029
Pianese are in real trouble now
Position 17, 21 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Francesco Proietto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Latina have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pianese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pianese told Mattia Oliva something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market13 Aug 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Proietto signs something — a contract at Pianese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
Gabriele Nicolai 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.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andrea Bartoccioni has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Aug 2029
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Aug 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrea Bartoccioni had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Renate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad6 Aug 2029
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The numbers do not look good at Pianese
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Pianese asked and Guidonia Montecelio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nurbol Taykenov and Pianese agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leonardo Di Cosmo
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Luigi Spinosa is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad30 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market30 Jul 2029
Giugliano are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Pianese will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jul 2029
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Gabriele Nicolai is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout23 Jul 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.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jul 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces16 Jul 2029
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pianese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match16 Jul 2029
Pianese are in real trouble now
Position 17, 21 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 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 Pianese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Jul 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Proietto signs something — a contract at Pianese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market9 Jul 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Mamadou Baldé is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Francesco Chesti has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Belts tighten at Pianese
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Still no name above the door at Pianese
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
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ravenna have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Wages swallow 85% of the Pianese income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leonardo Di Cosmo
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Pianese have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
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 Pianese, 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
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Lorenzo Vigiani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jun 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pianese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A fracture rules Manuel Tirelli out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jun 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match18 Jun 2029
Pianese sink to position 17
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leonardo Di Cosmo
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Jun 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrea Bartoccioni had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Renate is saying, and nobody at Pianese is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
Pianese counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pianese now.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nurbol Taykenov commits to Pianese for another 1 years.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“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 Pianese know it.
Market11 Jun 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marco Tiozzo Pagio’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2029
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Pianese
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pianese is running low.
Boardroom4 Jun 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
Pianese say no — this time
The offer from Bra for Andrea Bartoccioni was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
The deal with Renate is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
Pianese have made the call to Juventus. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
85% of the income goes out in wages at Pianese
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 May 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout28 May 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.
Squad28 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Berti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout28 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrea Bartoccioni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 May 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mattia Oliva has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Pianese.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 May 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces21 May 2029
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match21 May 2029
Every point is an argument now for Pianese
Position 17 and 21 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout21 May 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 Pianese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 May 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 May 2029
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom14 May 2029
The numbers do not look good at Pianese
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad14 May 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 May 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Pianese 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.
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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Di Palma and Pianese agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom7 May 2029
99% of the income goes out in wages at Pianese
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leonardo Di Cosmo
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Apr 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Filippo Berti 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.
The terraces30 Apr 2029
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Pianese would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match23 Apr 2029
Every point is an argument now for Pianese
Position 17 and 21 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Di Palma, and the manager let it.
Market23 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Francesco Proietto’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Filippo Berti 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.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Supporters make their feelings known about Marco Tiozzo Pagio
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Pianese would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leonardo Di Cosmo
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match16 Apr 2029
Pianese finish in position 17
21 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match14 Apr 2029
Still nobody has beaten Pianese
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad16 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gabriele Nicolai and Pianese agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Marked 7.80 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pianese had the best player on the pitch.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Belts tighten at Pianese
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Player ratings16 Apr 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
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market9 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Luca Fabrizi scored one and made one — 7.81
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.81, and 2 involvements.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Lorenzo Vigiani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Apr 2029
Still nobody has beaten Pianese
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
Pianese 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Manuel Tirelli and Pianese agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Berti, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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 Pianese know it.
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 Gianluca Giuliani clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
A stranger takes charge at Pianese
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom2 Apr 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
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Squad2 Apr 2029
Nurbol Taykenov wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Pianese now know that too.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Mar 2029
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match24 Mar 2029
It had gone 19 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match26 Mar 2029
Pianese are in real trouble now
Position 17, 18 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.
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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
A brace, and Luca Fabrizi takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luca Fabrizi provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad26 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.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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Match24 Mar 2029
It finished 3‑1, and it was Luca Fabrizi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pianese.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Pianese
19 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Francesco Proietto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippo Berti and Pianese agree another 3 years.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Pianese counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pianese now.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luigi Spinosa, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Mar 2029
18 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Match10 Mar 2029
A 2-goal lead gone for Pianese
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Pineto kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Pianese will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
A brace, and Luca Fabrizi takes the afternoon — 8.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luca Fabrizi provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout12 Mar 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Mattia Oliva and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 10. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Mar 2029
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pianese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leonardo Di Cosmo and Pianese agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match3 Mar 2029
No time for Campobasso to settle
The goal that put Campobasso ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Pianese equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad5 Mar 2029
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Pianese will try not to make too much of it.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Wages swallow 89% of the Pianese income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
16 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
The terraces26 Feb 2029
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match26 Feb 2029
Pianese sink to position 17
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
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.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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Squad26 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Feb 2029
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Carpi
0‑2 to Carpi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 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.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Feb 2029
15 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Feb 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.
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
A falling-out at Pianese
Marco Tiozzo Pagio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead19 Feb 2029
A six-pointer for Pianese
Carpi next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Squad19 Feb 2029
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Giovanni Severino
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pianese will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match17 Feb 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Ravenna leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Belts tighten at Pianese
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2029
The wait goes on for Pianese
14 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
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market12 Feb 2029
Pianese say no — this time
The offer from Pro Patria for Andrea Bartoccioni was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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 ratings12 Feb 2029
Marked 7.17 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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Match10 Feb 2029
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Forli
1‑3 to Forli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pro Vercelli have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Feb 2029
13 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Pianese interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Gianluca Giuliani keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Marco Tiozzo Pagio, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Pianese close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad5 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriele Nicolai and Pianese agree another 5 years.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces5 Feb 2029
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market5 Feb 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lorenzo Vigiani has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Pianese.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Jan 2029
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match27 Jan 2029
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Match29 Jan 2029
Pianese sink to position 18
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market29 Jan 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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match27 Jan 2029
Pianese cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Francesco Proietto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecco have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Match20 Jan 2029
0‑3 to Gubbio, 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market22 Jan 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
The goals have deserted Pianese
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pianese can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Edoardo Colletti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Filippo Berti
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Pianese
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Market15 Jan 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.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pianese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Juventus keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Still no name above the door at Pianese
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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Renate have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Ardizzone and Pianese agree another 4 years.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pianese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Jan 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Market8 Jan 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Audace Cerignola had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad8 Jan 2029
He is 16, he is averaging 6.59, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cagliari is saying, and nobody at Pianese is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Vigiani
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Jan 2029
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Davide Bigiarini damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match1 Jan 2029
Pianese sink to position 17
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match30 Dec 2028
8 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Francesco Chesti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match30 Dec 2028
1‑2 to Guidonia Montecelio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Dec 2028
Nowhere to hide for Pianese
0‑3 against Perugia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match23 Dec 2028
7 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Market25 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo De Martin, and the manager let it.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
Doors closed at Pianese
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Mauro Mariani left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Tiozzo Pagio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2028
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Dec 2028
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.
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match16 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Dec 2028
Arezzo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Dec 2028
Halfway: Pianese sit in position 17
9 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Dec 2028
5 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Francesco Proietto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mamadou Baldé commits to Pianese for another 4 years.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match9 Dec 2028
Pianese rescue it on 85 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Livorno had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marked 7.73 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pianese had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Dec 2028
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Davide Bigiarini damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match2 Dec 2028
2‑5 to Torres, 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Pianese
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
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Mauro Mariani has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match4 Dec 2028
Pianese sink to position 17
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout4 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
Davide Bigiarini damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market27 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match25 Nov 2028
Vis Pesaro left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout27 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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mauro Mariani after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings27 Nov 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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo De Martin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Nov 2028
Davide Bigiarini damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market20 Nov 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Francesco Chesti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Nov 2028
Sambenedettese left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Filippo Berti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Chesti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davide Bigiarini
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“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; Pianese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match11 Nov 2028
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 7.69. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
92% of the income goes out in wages at Pianese
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.
Match11 Nov 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
Pianese counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pianese now.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces6 Nov 2028
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad6 Nov 2028
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Nov 2028
Pianese are in real trouble now
Position 18, 7 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.
Market6 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pianese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces6 Nov 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Marco Tiozzo Pagio has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout6 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davide Bigiarini
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match28 Oct 2028
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Match28 Oct 2028
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Carpi
2‑3 to Carpi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Oct 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Pianese
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Simone Ardizzone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Oct 2028
Chastening afternoon for Pianese
A 0‑3 beating by Ravenna was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market23 Oct 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 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.
Boardroom23 Oct 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mauro Mariani after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
A promise honoured at Pianese
Something was said to Vincenzo Cantisani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market23 Oct 2028
Pianese have let the market know Francesco Chesti can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.54, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad16 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
6 goals as Pianese and Forli go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pianese and Forli, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match14 Oct 2028
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Forli
2‑4 to Forli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Sosthene Mbouzikeu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑4 Mauro Mariani left the room before anybody could ask which.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
Pianese counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pianese now.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Oct 2028
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad9 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Vigiani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match7 Oct 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mamadou Baldé and Pianese agree another 4 years.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
Wages eat 87% of everything Pianese 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.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Samuele Sussi
“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.
Market9 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Francesco Proietto’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Oct 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Oct 2028
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match30 Sep 2028
The drought breaks for Pianese
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ternana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pianese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Francesco Chesti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match30 Sep 2028
Ternana made Pianese work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Filippo Berti
“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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pianese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
Pianese interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Mauro Mariani keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Match23 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Match20 Sep 2028
The small margins put Pianese out
Out, 0‑2 to Juve Stabia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market25 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Marco Tiozzo Pagio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Vigiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Mauro Mariani to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lorenzo De Martin
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match16 Sep 2028
Pianese throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Bra the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Pianese will enjoy reviewing.
Match16 Sep 2028
7 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marco Tiozzo Pagio did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad18 Sep 2028
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenzo Vigiani and Pianese agree another 3 years.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Pianese asked and Ternana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces18 Sep 2028
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Sep 2028
Lorenzo De Martin damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces11 Sep 2028
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The dugout11 Sep 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
6 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Match9 Sep 2028
Pianese cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Lorenzo Vigiani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pergolettese have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A divided room at Pianese
3 groups that do not mix, and 2 players belonging to none of them. Nothing here can be fined or dropped, which is why it lasts longer than any row that can.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lorenzo De Martin damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad4 Sep 2028
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Pianese until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match2 Sep 2028
Pianese cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad4 Sep 2028
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Francesco Proietto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Pianese asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Aug 2028
Lorenzo De Martin damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Aug 2028
Chastening afternoon for Pianese
A 0‑6 beating by Perugia was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad28 Aug 2028
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match26 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Luigi Spinosa is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match26 Aug 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pianese and Perugia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
Pianese 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
3 matches without a goal for Pianese
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Lorenzo Vigiani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
“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.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AS Roma keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo De Martin is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Pianese
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market21 Aug 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alessandro Rinaldi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Braian Vargas
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pianese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The terraces14 Aug 2028
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market14 Aug 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Braian Vargas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Braian Vargas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pianese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marco Tiozzo Pagio is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
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Squad14 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Francesco Chesti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
Emergency meeting at Pianese
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Aug 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Lazio, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AS Roma is saying, and nobody at Pianese is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“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 Pianese know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luigi Spinosa is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Lorenzo Vigiani has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecco have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenzo Orio and Pianese agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to AS Roma: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market31 Jul 2028
Lorenzo Orio is 20, and Pianese 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.
The dugout31 Jul 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
Crisis
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Jul 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Braian Vargas reports back to Pianese with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
$190.0K settles it between the clubs for Mariano Vázquez
Empoli have accepted the money. What Pianese do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Livorno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Pianese asked and Benevento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Parma; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
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Squad17 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad17 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Francesco Chesti has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Francesco Proietto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 90% of everything Pianese 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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Casertana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Pianese counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pianese now.
Squad10 Jul 2028
The formation has left Samuele Sussi behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pianese will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Gorelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pianese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicolò Baldini has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Pianese board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Claudio Martey and Pianese agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lorenzo Colonnese has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Pianese have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Luca Fabrizi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pianese has been clear about where Francesco Chesti stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Braian Vargas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Braian Vargas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pianese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The paperwork begins on Yoann Court
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pianese have done the hard part with Lecce, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
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Squad26 Jun 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Pianese asked and Parma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market26 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlo Zanetti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Teodoro Sala is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jun 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mirko Cipriani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Pianese
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
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Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The deal with AS Roma is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pianese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Jun 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Tiozzo Pagio, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roberto Del Vecchio commits to Pianese for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pianese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jun 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Parma, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pianese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Pianese had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Juventus, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Livorno have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicolò Baldini has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Pianese board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Jun 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Ruggero Frosinini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A move Nurbol Taykenov would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nurbol Taykenov is living that version at Pianese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Luca Fabrizi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Pianese asked and Bologna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Pianese have made the call to Juventus. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
A loan move for Simon Lleshi is in the works
Pianese have made the call to Inter. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout29 May 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 May 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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
Braian Vargas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 May 2028
Luca Fabrizi 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 Pianese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Matteo Gorelli may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 May 2028
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market22 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout22 May 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Fabrizi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 May 2028
Luigi Spinosa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pianese will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout22 May 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 Pianese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Claudio Martey’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 May 2028
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Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Fabrizi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 May 2028
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Luigi Spinosa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 May 2028
Lorenzo Vigiani 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
Boardroom8 May 2028
Nicolò Baldini has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pianese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 May 2028
Matteo Gorelli has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pianese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Francesco Proietto commits to Pianese for another 4 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Vargas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout8 May 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Leonardo Di Cosmo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout8 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Vigiani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 May 2028
Luca Simeoni is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout1 May 2028
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Squad1 May 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Wages eat 113% of everything Pianese 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.
Squad1 May 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pianese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout1 May 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout1 May 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Leonardo Di Cosmo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad1 May 2028
Nerves in the Pianese squad
Luca Fabrizi has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Pianese
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Luca Fabrizi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout24 Apr 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Luigi Spinosa gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luigi Spinosa is on it.
Market24 Apr 2028
Pianese have made Lorenzo Masetti available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Apr 2028
Chastening afternoon for Pianese
A 0‑3 beating by Arezzo was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match17 Apr 2028
The season ends: position 15 for Pianese
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 28 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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 Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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The dugout17 Apr 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.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Matteo Gorelli has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Ruggero Frosinini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“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; Pianese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Vargas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Apr 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Apr 2028
Matteo Gorelli has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pianese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Fabrizi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces10 Apr 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Farronato has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vincenzo Lombardi and Pianese agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Lorenzo Peli left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Lorenzo Peli will call it something else in private.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Luca Fabrizi 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 Luca Fabrizi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Nicolò Baldini has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pianese can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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Squad3 Apr 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Torres
1‑3 to Torres, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Fabrizi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Apr 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giuseppe Tarantino is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Apr 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fabrizio Altieri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Apr 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gianmarco Iannuzzi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Lorenzo Vigiani
-
Boardroom
Wages swallow 113% of the Pianese income
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces27 Mar 2028
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market27 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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Squad27 Mar 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Leonardo Ciani gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Leonardo Ciani has just signed for Pianese, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Player ratings27 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
Lorenzo Peli 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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Squad20 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pianese told Ruggero Frosinini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad20 Mar 2028
7 new faces, and Pianese are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Ressia, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nicolò Baldini was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pianese dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Mar 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Peli
“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.
Match11 Mar 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicolò Baldini after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A Pianese teenager takes the young player award
Matteo Farronato is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A wage question at Pianese
Matteo Colombo has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicolò Baldini has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Mar 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sosthene Mbouzikeu is living that version at Pianese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Braian Vargas and Pianese agree another 4 years.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Niccolò Mazzantini has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Pianese have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
124% of the income goes out in wages at Pianese
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Martey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pianese told Francesco Chesti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager's exit leaves Leonardo Di Cosmo exposed
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Match
Point won or two lost for Pianese?
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Feb 2028
Supporters organise against the Pianese board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Luca Simeoni breaks a bone — 16 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Feb 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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Squad28 Feb 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Luca Fabrizi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luca Fabrizi. 1‑0 against Carpi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the Pianese support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
24 days out for Luca Simeoni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pianese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Feb 2028
Braian Vargas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pianese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market21 Feb 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Feb 2028
Ravenna left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
-
Looking ahead
A six-pointer for Pianese
-
Squad
7 new faces, and Pianese are still learning each other
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
It had gone 16 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Feb 2028
Lorenzo Peli 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Pianese
Ruggero Frosinini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Pianese asked and Guidonia Montecelio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match12 Feb 2028
Pianese get the job done against Forli
A 1‑0 win over Forli, 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
Match5 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Match5 Feb 2028
Nowhere to hide for Pianese
1‑4 against Pontedera, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market7 Feb 2028
Luca Fabrizi 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 Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Pianese close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo 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 Feb 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Pianese asked and Frosinone said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Luca Fabrizi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market31 Jan 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pianese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match31 Jan 2028
Pianese sink to position 16
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad31 Jan 2028
47 days out for Luca Simeoni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pianese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
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Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Latina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jan 2028
14 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
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Market24 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Pianese have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Mattia Oliva gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mattia Oliva has just signed for Pianese, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Pianese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Matteo Colombo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jan 2028
13 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The deal with Catanzaro is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Matteo Farronato was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Pianese asked and Guidonia Montecelio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Fabrizi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Marked 7.50 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pianese had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Jan 2028
69 days out for Luca Simeoni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pianese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AS Roma is saying, and nobody at Pianese is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hugo Leonardo De Oliveira is living that version at Pianese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Pianese asked and Bologna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Jan 2028
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match1 Jan 2028
11 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
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.
Match3 Jan 2028
Every point is an argument now for Pianese
Position 17 and 13 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Luca Simeoni breaks a bone — 76 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
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Squad3 Jan 2028
Leonardo Di Cosmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Dec 2027
10 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Luca Simeoni breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Pianese
Francesco Proietto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match25 Dec 2027
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Perugia
0‑1 to Perugia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luigi Spinosa commits to Pianese for another 4 years.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Luca Ercolani
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Market
The Simone Ianesi talk will not go away
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 91 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Dec 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and River Plate waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pianese is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match18 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Market20 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Dec 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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Squad20 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A move Michele Adorante would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Michele Adorante is living that version at Pianese, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match18 Dec 2027
Arezzo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Luca Fabrizi
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Match
Halfway: Pianese sit in position 17
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Dec 2027
98 days out for Luca Simeoni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pianese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match11 Dec 2027
8 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Dec 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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Squad13 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Dec 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pianese and Livorno, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match11 Dec 2027
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Livorno
2‑4 to Livorno, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Simone Ianesi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Dec 2027
The mood at Pianese has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Luca Simeoni breaks a bone — 105 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by Torres, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match6 Dec 2027
Pianese sink to position 16
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market6 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match4 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Pressure builds in the Pianese boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match4 Dec 2027
The goals have deserted Pianese
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pianese can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
112 days out for Luca Simeoni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pianese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pianese can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Pianese's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pianese has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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Match27 Nov 2027
Pianese cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Matteo Farronato 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 Nov 2027
Luca Fabrizi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Matteo Colombo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 120 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Nov 2027
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.
Market22 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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Match20 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Pianese
Leonardo Di Cosmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Nov 2027
3 matches without a goal for Pianese
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Colombo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Luca Fabrizi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Luca Simeoni out for 127 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pianese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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Match13 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Pianese
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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Fabrizi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market15 Nov 2027
Luca Fabrizi is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pianese has been clear about where Luca Fabrizi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match13 Nov 2027
A bad afternoon for Pianese against Pineto
0‑1 to Pineto, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Anger at Pianese spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad8 Nov 2027
134 days out for Luca Simeoni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pianese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Fabrizi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Farronato has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vincenzo Cantisani and Pianese agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Wages eat 91% of everything Pianese 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Simone Ianesi 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 Pianese, and both men came out saying it was fine.