120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Pro Patria rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Pro Vercelli had no answer to any of it.
King Udoh 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Rareş Coman 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 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.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boris Grbic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Forli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel Verre. The answer from Pro Patria has not changed — yet.
Abdelrahman Frattini 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Ilsanker and Pro Patria agree another 4 years.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pro Patria has been clear about where Abdelrahman Frattini stands, which is more than many ever get.
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 2‑0 win over Giana Erminio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Tommaso Ricordi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.62. 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.
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ciro Negri 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. Ignazio Cassano 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicolò Tagliabue 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. Salvatore Rossetti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
148 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 37 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.
The name of Manuel Verre has come up in conversations Pro Patria were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pro Patria, and both men came out saying it was fine.
BoardroomThe Pro Patria production line keeps running
260Edition
The Pro Patria Gazette
21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad21 Jul 2031
Manuel Verre falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jul 2031
5 new faces, and Pro Patria 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boris Grbic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Boris Grbic has agreed terms with Virtus Entella for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vidar Thorsteinsson is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michelangelo Duranti and Pro Patria agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Bertony Renelus was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antonino Sarrica and Pro Patria agree another 5 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Schirò 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.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Constantin Gondor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bertony Renelus and Pro Patria agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Manuel Verre falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pro Patria, 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Michelangelo Duranti is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Bertony Renelus was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Verre 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.
King Udoh 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.
9.17. 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.
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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Fran Barisic has just signed for Pro Patria, and for once the answer mattered.
He is 19, and nobody at Pro Patria signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
He is 20, and nobody at Pro Patria signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mattia Gagliano has just signed for Pro Patria, and for once the answer mattered.
King Udoh 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Marked 5.78. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattias Allasufi 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.23, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Verre 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.
Bertony Renelus 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
King Udoh 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Mattias Allasufi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Flavio Di Marzio’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pro Patria.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
Matteo Polizzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Flavio Di Marzio 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.
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Abdelrahman Frattini 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 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Tommaso Ricordi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Tommaso Ricordi had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Triestina were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
0‑3 to Renate, 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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Ardian Murati
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Schirò 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 words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pergolettese the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Pro Patria will enjoy reviewing.
Laerte Tognetti 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.
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pro Patria and Dolomiti Bellunesi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Mar 2031
Matteo Polizzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattias Allasufi 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 words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Pro Patria will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Manuel Verre falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
“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 Pro Patria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marked 9.53 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bertony Renelus 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 words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
King Udoh 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Siracusa will make the call about Manuel Verre this week. Pro Patria have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Thomas Schirò 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The phone has started ringing about Manuel Verre again, and this time the name on the line is Siracusa. Pro Patria are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattias Allasufi 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.
Marked 8.72 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Schirò 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.
King Udoh 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.
Marked 7.02 on 20 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Manuel Verre and Pro Patria agree another 4 years.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Verre 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 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.
“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 Pro Patria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
King Udoh 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pro Patria and Giana Erminio, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Siracusa will make the call about Manuel Verre this week. Pro Patria have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Manuel Verre 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tommaso Ricordi. 3‑1 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.86. 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.
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.
“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 Pro Patria know it.
Abdelrahman Frattini 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mattias Allasufi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pro Patria have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
0‑3 to Arzignano, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonino Sarrica signs something — a contract at Pro Patria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Marked 5.73. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 3 times before the twentieth minute. Union Brescia tried to reorganise, Pro Patria did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levon Mkhitaryan 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.
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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.64 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
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.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Laerte Tognetti 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Pro Patria who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mattias Allasufi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonino Sarrica signs something — a contract at Pro Patria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mattias Allasufi did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Pro Patria know it.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levon Mkhitaryan 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pro Patria told Laerte Tognetti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Bertony Renelus 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 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.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
King Udoh 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Pro Patria who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mattias Allasufi did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippo Ercolani and Pro Patria agree another 3 years.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Dolomiti Bellunesi will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
6 new faces, and Pro Patria 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Laerte Tognetti 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 easiest signature of my career.” Edoardo Callegari and Pro Patria agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alessandro Orfei scored in the 87th minute, Novara had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Pro Patria took the lot.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mattias Allasufi did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gian Filippo Felicioli and Pro Patria agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Orfei. 1‑0 against Novara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Carlo Bassorizzi: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Mattias Allasufi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.50
A mark of 8.50 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.87, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pro Patria and Ospitaletto, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Bertony Renelus 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.
7 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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
King Udoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonino Sarrica is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Georgi Tunjov was one of the reasons people came, and $3.9M does not replace that by itself.
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.
King Udoh 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.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Bologna will make the call about Georgi Tunjov this week. Pro Patria have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Ardian Murati 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leandro Moretti 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valerio Greco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefano Del Vecchio 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.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
King Udoh 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.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Federico Danesin is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 32 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.
Borja Domínguez 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.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Luca Maniero has come up in conversations Pro Patria were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Pro Patria know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
5 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.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
King Udoh 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.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Borja Domínguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A conversation is coming this week. Pro Patria will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Mora 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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pro Patria, another week without a signature from Antonino Sarrica.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonino Sarrica is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hendrik Kait is living that version at Pro Patria, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chase for Michelangelo Duranti ended with $170.0K changing hands and AlbinoLeffe out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mattias Allasufi and Pro Patria agree another 5 years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Denny Pucci was one of the reasons people came, and $470.0K does not replace that by itself.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Federico Danesin is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sassaro 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Borja Domínguez has agreed terms with Modena for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Daniel Golovatic 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Pro Patria will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does William Rovida’s negotiating for him
King Udoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria 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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Antonino Sarrica is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. William Rovida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
King Udoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Bertony Renelus was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It needed Bertony Renelus to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Alcione Milano, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
MarketThe clock does William Rovida’s negotiating for him
Position 3, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
King Udoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 May 2030
Getting past William Rovida has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sassaro 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.
18 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Borja Domínguez 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. William Rovida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Pro Patria have had the benefit of it.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sassaro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria 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.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Pro Patria will not try tonight.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alessandro Orfei signs something — a contract at Pro Patria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
King Udoh 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.
13 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and William Rovida has given nobody the chance.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Sassaro 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.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑1, and it was King Udoh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pro Patria.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Tommaso Ricordi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. 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.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
King Udoh 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.
Marked 9.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Antonino Sarrica, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Mora is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Position 3, 44 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Marked 8.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgi Tunjov. 1‑0 against Virtus Verona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bertony Renelus 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Mora 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 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.
“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 Pro Patria, and it is not being withdrawn.
King Udoh 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until King Udoh signs something — a contract at Pro Patria or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Mora 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
King Udoh 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.
Nobody at Pro Patria 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Position 3, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Denny Pucci to Perugia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Pro Patria with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Gian Filippo Felicioli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Südtirol moved on, Luca Maniero reports back to Pro Patria, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgi Tunjov. 2‑0 against Ospitaletto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Antonino Sarrica scored, was marked 7.51, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pro Patria and Pro Vercelli, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Semino 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.
Bertony Renelus 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 touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Position 3, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
King Udoh 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.
Marked 9.55 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 9.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
SquadPietro Semino falls out with a teammate over standards
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Pro Patria will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 ratings7 Jan 2030
Georgi Tunjov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.56. 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.
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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for King Udoh
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Orfei and Pro Patria agree another 4 years.
King Udoh 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Pietro Semino 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. King Udoh will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Pro Patria escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Semino 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mattias Allasufi did not need any: 8.48, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
King Udoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Orfei. 2‑1 against Lumezzane, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pro Patria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Semino 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.
Borja Domínguez 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vicenza? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Pietro Semino 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.
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Pro Patria will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pro Patria, another week without a signature from Christian Mora.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pro Patria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Pro Patria know it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Marked 5.50. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
“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 Pro Patria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Saitta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
King Udoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Pietro Semino 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pro Patria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Pro Patria, 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Semino 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 easiest signature of my career.” Cesare Fortunato and Pro Patria agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Virtus Verona will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Pro Patria were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The terraces5 Nov 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Edoardo Callegari did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
A first appearance Mattia Marchini will want to forget — 5.64
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.64, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Semino 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 touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pro Patria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Saitta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Pietro Semino 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.
Alessandro Sassaro 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.