“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Umberto Camelio is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ebrima Darboe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Luca Schirone 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Germinario is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Silvano Biggi
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ebrima Darboe 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Luca Lombardi 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gianluca Germinario 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.
Pineto asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Federico Baggi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Pineto asked and Venezia 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Orazio Alberti 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Del Lungo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ebrima Darboe has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Germinario was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pineto asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Domenico Frare
Everything agreed with Independiente, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ebrima Darboe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Luca Schirone 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alessandro Marrancone is on it.
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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maksim Minkov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ebrima Darboe 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.
Deportivo La Coruña 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.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Germinario was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pineto asked and Palermo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pineto people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pineto will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Christian Marietta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Pro Patria have accepted the money. What Pineto do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Christian Marietta 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 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Cesare Marchetti 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mauro Parise is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Filippo Pellegrini 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pineto can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Everything was agreed with Udinese and then the doctor spoke. Pineto have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Umberto Camelio is living that version at Pineto, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pineto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Lecce 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.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Pineto asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Aarón Martínez
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Marone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pineto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pineto have done the hard part with Catanzaro, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luca Schirone 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Pineto asked and Bari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sambenedettese have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Fabrizio Melis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
Tommaso D'Orazio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo D'Andrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pineto asked and Napoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Pineto have made the call to Sambenedettese. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pineto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Giannini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pineto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo D'Andrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Pineto 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Tommaso D'Orazio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alessandro Marrancone is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pineto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Silvano Biggi are not good
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pineto can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pineto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pineto will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pineto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Pineto know it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Tommaso D'Orazio is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
In brief
The dugoutLuca Lombardi knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pineto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 26 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pineto can tell you which week it ends in.
Something was said to Domenico Frare and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Fabrizio Melis chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aarón Martínez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giorgio Peretti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pineto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Marone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pineto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alessandro Tonti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Erdis Kraja.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommaso D'Orazio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Silvano Biggi 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.
Something was said to Aarón Martínez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fabrizio Melis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Davide Giannini is on it.
Filippo D'Andrea 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 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 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Pineto are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Aarón Martínez
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Fabrizio Melis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Marone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pineto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Facundo Mera has just signed for Pineto, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Luca Lombardi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lorenzo De Santis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
“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; Pineto are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Tommaso D'Orazio's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pineto will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Erdis Kraja.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Pineto 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.
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Fabrizio Melis kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gianluca Germinario trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pineto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luca Schirone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergio Mariani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pineto close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pineto have done the hard part with Como, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pianese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pineto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
Pineto asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabrizio Melis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Pineto have made the call to Hellas Verona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Francesco Folino is in the works
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.
The deal with Cremonese 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.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pescara have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Francesco Marone again, and this time the name on the line is Pianese. Pineto are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Pineto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pineto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristiano Andreoli 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pineto told Luca Lombardi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pineto, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Carpi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ravenna scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fabrizio Melis was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Pineto dressing room was either.
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.
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Half the programme played, position 15, 11 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ank Asmussen 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.
Something was said to Alessandro Marrancone and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Marone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pineto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Leandro Russo 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Pontedera had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It needed Giuseppe Saccomanni to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Pontedera, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fabrizio Melis after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Pineto 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marco Delle Monache has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pineto have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Fabrizio Melis chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Lombardi 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.
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Fabrizio Melis left the room before anybody could ask which.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Aarón Martínez has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Luca Lombardi
A mark of 8.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marco Delle Monache 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Delle Monache. 2‑0 against Bra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pineto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alessandro Tonti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Pianese left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Fabrizio Melis left the room before anybody could ask which.
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Lombardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Lombardi, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Fabrizio Melis chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabrizio Melis after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Pineto is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Luca Schirone and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Pineto 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabrizio Melis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Perugia.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Marone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pineto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tommaso D'Orazio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Lombardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pineto has been clear about where Alessandro Pellegrino stands, which is more than many ever get.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Silvano Biggi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fabrizio Melis on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Samuele Tupone obliged against Union Brescia. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Pineto.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 104th minute. Union Brescia will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
In brief
Squad8 new faces, and Pineto are still learning each other
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pineto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabrizio Melis after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Sambenedettese.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Pineto have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo D'Andrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gregorio Pellegrino 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabrizio Melis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ascoli next, and one man in the Pineto dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luca Schirone 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 name of Francesco Marone has come up in conversations Pineto were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gianluca Vigliotti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pineto have done the hard part with Sassuolo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Pineto 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabrizio Melis after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Pineto have made the call to Boca Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Silvano Biggi
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pineto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Tommaso D'Orazio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Ravenna next, and one man in the Pineto dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pineto asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Bra have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Francesco Marone. The answer from Pineto has not changed — yet.
Bendel Insurance 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pineto has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Silvano Biggi are not good
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Armando Borghi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tiziano De Simone 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gerardo De Santis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo D'Andrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Pineto 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Gioele Conte is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Renato Ruggiero is in the works